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Clip description
The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) has fought for the rights of Aboriginal people to be recognised in line with other civil rights movements occurring overseas. A referendum is called in 1967 for the public to make a choice. In this clip we see archival footage of Faith Bandler and Sir Doug Nicholls, who were instrumental in the fight for Aboriginal rights.
Writer Bruce Pascoe of Boonwurrung Heritage and historians Professor Marcia Langton of the Yiman-Bidjara Nation and Professor Gordon Briscoe of the Maraduntjara Nation give their unique perspectives on the outcomes of the referendum.
Curator’s notes
It seems unthinkable now that less than 50 years ago Aboriginal people in Australia were not counted as human beings in the census, but were classified in the category of fauna or animals. While this referendum changed the perception of Aboriginal people in Australia it did not give them the rights FCAATSI had hoped for.
It took many more years of campaigning and activism to get to a point where urban Aboriginal people have the same choices and rights as white people. However, even now, we are not at a point of equality. The Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was suspended in 2007 to roll out the Northern Territory Intervention in remote Indigenous communities so the Government could intervene ‘for their own good’. To this day, despite innumerable protests, there are no signs of its reversal.
