Introduction – what was the 1967 Referendum about?

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'Right Wrongs Write YES for Aborigines on May 27’ - Referendum campaign slogan 1967

The story of the 1967 Referendum begins with the enactment of the Australian Constitution in 1901. As colonies of the British Empire, the States had been making laws for Aboriginal peoples in the name of ‘protection’ since the mid to late 1800s. Under the new Constitution the States retained this power.

The reality of these special ‘protection’ laws however, was that the lives of Indigenous Australians were severely controlled by the States. By 1912 each State had its own version of a protection law. In the name of protection, children could be removed from families, peoples’ movement and association was controlled; people were classified according to descent; living conditions on reserves could sometimes be harsh, with sub-standard housing, meagre rations, and poor education; employment was controlled, often with rations for payment or wages withheld; speaking language and other cultural practices in some cases were prohibited.

The State and Territory laws which allowed all this to happen, and the legacies of cultural, social and economic deprivation were the ‘WRONGS’ which had to be made ‘RIGHT’.