The YES! 1967 Referendum online
Date: 30 May 2007
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the1967 Referendum, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Library in Canberra has prepared an online exhibition: Yes! The 1967 Referendum.
To view the online exhibition and see, hear and read about the history of the 1967 Referendum, click HERE.
FURTHER INFO
The exhibition draws together many valuable resources on the history of the 1967 Referendum, including digitised items from the AIATSIS collections, material from Gordon Bryant’s papers at the National Library of Australia, government papers from the National Archives of Australia and a ‘Vote Yes!’ jingle from the collections of the National Film and Sound Archive.
Newspapers from across Australia have been generous in allowing AIATSIS to digitise newspaper articles relating to the promotion of the ‘Yes’ vote in the Referendum, and more than 50 newspaper articles appear in the exhibition.
The resounding ‘Yes’ vote in the 1967 Referendum is the highest ‘Yes’ vote in Australian history. The result of the referendum saw two clauses in the Constitution referring to ‘the Aboriginal race’ removed, allowing Indigenous people to be counted in the census and giving the Commonwealth government power to make special laws for Indigenous Australians. The overwhelming support of the Australian voting public gave Indigenous Australians a new hope for the future.
Links are provided to other online exhibitions about the 1967 Referendum and a reading list is included.
CAN YOU HELP?
AIATSIS Library is keen to identify other items and stories which could go into the online exhibition. Additionally, if you can name any of the unidentified people in the photographs AIATSIS would love to hear from you.
Email: library@aiatsis.gov.au or phone the Reference Desk on 02 6246 1182.
