’67 Referendum remembered

“Politically it was a bad time,” Bobby said, “The Liberal Party was in power and the politicians were still living in the 1800s.”

“Our lives were governed by the Aboriginal Welfare Act. If you lived on a reserve, you had to get permission from the white manager to go and see your mother or father or your grandparents – you had to get written permission,” he recounts.

“Leading up to the referendum, most of us were either brought up in the reserves or missions and many of us were isolated from the mainstream society, right up to 1967.”

The embattled activist said it was important to fight for changes like the referendum because the Indigenous population was desperately in need of improvements in welfare provisions.

“We had meetings to discuss campaigns but no halls around here, in Redfern or in the city, would rent to Aboriginal people. They’d say, ‘They’re all drunks, they’re trouble makers’. We had to get white Trade Unionists to book a hall and then we’d take over.”

Prior to the constitutional amendments, remote rural areas that were inhabited by Aborigines were not covered by the census, with the government making only rough population estimates.

“They counted sheep, dogs, cattle, even camels in the desert – but no blacks. It was dangerous to count them because they’d have to supply them with housing and health facilities, so it was easier by keeping the numbers down,” Bobby said.

On 27 May 1967, over 90 per cent of Australians voted “Yes for Aborigines” in the referendum, with overwhelming support showing across all states. The constitutional amendments allowed the Federal Government to make special laws that applied to Aboriginal Australians and took on a symbolic significance as a first step towards reconciliation.

Bobby agreed that although the Aboriginal community has come a long way since the historic vote, much work is still needed to be done in areas such as housing and health care.

“After housing, health follows. You can’t get one without the other. There are also not enough services for mental health – with the drugs that are going around today, the medical service is overloaded.”

Source: South Sydney Herald June 2007 www.southsydneyherald.com.au/