1967 Australian Referendum: Aboriginal Australians Counted

The 1967 Australian referendum, held on 27 May 1967, asked voters to approve changes to the two sections of the Constitution that referred to Aboriginal people. An overwhelming 90.77 per cent voted Yes, the highest vote for any Australian referendum, and the change was carried in every state. The result gave the Commonwealth government power to make laws for Aboriginal Australians and ended their exclusion from official population counts, and it became a powerful symbol of the movement for Aboriginal rights.

Background: the Constitution and Aboriginal people

The Australian Constitution, which took effect at federation in 1901, mentioned Aboriginal people twice. Section 51(xxvi) allowed the Commonwealth Parliament to make special laws for “the people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State”. Aboriginal affairs were therefore left to the states, which often imposed strict controls over where Aboriginal people could live, work and marry.

Section 127 stated that “aboriginal natives” should not be counted when reckoning the population of the Commonwealth or a state. This affected how seats in Parliament and certain funds were allocated. Many people saw it as a sign that Aboriginal people were not regarded as part of the nation.

The campaign

From the late 1950s activists campaigned to change these clauses. The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), founded in 1958 as the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, brought together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal campaigners, unions, churches and community groups. Leading figures included Faith Bandler, a campaigner of South Sea Islander descent, the Aboriginal unionist Joe McGinness and the veteran feminist Jessie Street.

FCAATSI organised petitions with tens of thousands of signatures and lobbied politicians. In Parliament the Liberal backbencher William Wentworth and the Labor members Gordon Bryant and Kim Beazley senior were among those who pressed for change.

Public awareness of discrimination had also grown through events such as the Freedom Ride of February 1965, when University of Sydney students led by the Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins toured country towns in New South Wales to expose segregation in swimming pools, cinemas and hotels. Newspaper and television coverage of the tour shocked many city Australians. In 1967 the government of Harold Holt agreed to put the question to the people. Because both major parties supported the change, no official No case was published, which helped the Yes campaign. Volunteers handed out how-to-vote cards urging people to write “Yes” on the Aboriginal question, and the campaign’s message often went further than the legal change, presenting a Yes vote as a vote for equal rights.

The vote

On 27 May 1967 voters were asked to approve the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967. About 5.18 million people voted Yes, or 90.77 per cent of formal votes. The proposal won in every state, with the highest Yes vote in Victoria and the lowest in Western Australia, where it still exceeded 80 per cent.

A second question on the same day, about the size of the House of Representatives relative to the Senate, was rejected. The contrast showed how strongly voters supported the Aboriginal question.

What it did, and what it did not do

The referendum made two changes. It removed the exclusion of Aboriginal people from the Commonwealth’s power to make special laws for any race, and it repealed section 127. From 1971 Aboriginal people were included in the official population figures.

Several popular beliefs about the referendum are not accurate. It did not give Aboriginal people citizenship, which they already held under the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948. It did not give them the vote: they had gained the federal vote in 1962, and Queensland, the last state, granted the state vote in 1965. The often repeated claim that Aboriginal people were previously classified under a “flora and fauna act” is a myth, although they did face many discriminatory state laws.

Consequences

After the referendum the Holt government created the Office of Aboriginal Affairs and the Council for Aboriginal Affairs. Many activists, however, were disappointed by the slow pace of change in the years immediately after the vote.

Commonwealth action increased under the Whitlam government from 1972, and the new power was used in laws such as the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The land rights struggle that grew from the Wave Hill walk-off and the protest of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy showed that many Aboriginal people wanted more than constitutional change.

Later court cases showed that the race power could also be used in ways that disadvantaged Aboriginal people. In Kartinyeri v Commonwealth (1998) the High Court did not rule out such use.

Timeline

• 1901: The Constitution takes effect with sections 51(xxvi) and 127.
• 1958: The Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, later FCAATSI, is founded.
• 1962: Aboriginal people gain the right to vote in federal elections.
• 1967, 27 May: The referendum is approved by 90.77 per cent of voters.
• 1967, 10 August: The constitutional changes become law.
• 1971: Aboriginal people are counted in the national census figures.

Why it matters

The 1967 referendum was the most successful in Australia’s history and a turning point in relations between the Commonwealth and Aboriginal people. Although its legal effect was narrower than many believe, it gave the national government power to act and became a lasting symbol of the hope for equality and recognition.