From time to time the odd newsworthy item about the aboriginal people of Australia breaks out in the media. Sadly, all too often it is a negative "story" of petrol-sniffing or some other item - like the poor health of aboriginals especially in the outback - dealing with the plight of the Kori people.
It is fair to say that the treatment of Australia's aboriginal population is a blight on the country and its leadership over the years. The present PM, even in these so-called enlightened days, has done little to enhance the position of aboriginal communities around the country or to foster good relations with indiginous people.
This piece by Muriel Bamblett in The Age is therefore timely in that it reminds us that it is 40 years ago this year when aboriginals were first granted the vote in Australia.
"The 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum that gave the Federal Government the right to make laws for Aboriginal people and counted us in the census for the first time is an important event, not only for indigenous people but also for non-indigenous people.
It makes me ask when we began as an Australian nation?
Not in 1788, because we were brutalised by invasion.
Not in 1901, the time of Federation, because we weren't part of it. In fact, the constitution's only mention of Aboriginal people specifically excluded us from being counted as citizens. And worse than that — one of the early acts of Federal Parliament in 1902 denied indigenous people voting rights.
For me, 1967 marks the time when becoming a nation became possible. At least we counted, and we were counted in the census.
We became de facto citizens of the land that has been ours for time immemorial, a land that claims us and that we have been given divine duty to protect.
On May 27, many Aboriginal people, including me, will turn 40. That is, 40 years of being citizens, even though some of us are chronologically slightly older than that. But we are still only at the stage of promising to become a nation.
How can we be a nation if to be Aboriginal is bad for your health, if our deaths come 20 years sooner than for other Australians?"
It is fair to say that the treatment of Australia's aboriginal population is a blight on the country and its leadership over the years. The present PM, even in these so-called enlightened days, has done little to enhance the position of aboriginal communities around the country or to foster good relations with indiginous people.
This piece by Muriel Bamblett in The Age is therefore timely in that it reminds us that it is 40 years ago this year when aboriginals were first granted the vote in Australia.
"The 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum that gave the Federal Government the right to make laws for Aboriginal people and counted us in the census for the first time is an important event, not only for indigenous people but also for non-indigenous people.
It makes me ask when we began as an Australian nation?
Not in 1788, because we were brutalised by invasion.
Not in 1901, the time of Federation, because we weren't part of it. In fact, the constitution's only mention of Aboriginal people specifically excluded us from being counted as citizens. And worse than that — one of the early acts of Federal Parliament in 1902 denied indigenous people voting rights.
For me, 1967 marks the time when becoming a nation became possible. At least we counted, and we were counted in the census.
We became de facto citizens of the land that has been ours for time immemorial, a land that claims us and that we have been given divine duty to protect.
On May 27, many Aboriginal people, including me, will turn 40. That is, 40 years of being citizens, even though some of us are chronologically slightly older than that. But we are still only at the stage of promising to become a nation.
How can we be a nation if to be Aboriginal is bad for your health, if our deaths come 20 years sooner than for other Australians?"
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