“Politically
it was a bad time,” Bobby said, “The Liberal Party was in power and the
politicians were still living in the 1800s.”
“Our lives
were governed by the Aboriginal Welfare Act. If you lived on a reserve, you had
to get permission from the white manager to go and see your mother or father or
your grandparents – you had to get written permission,” he recounts.
“Leading up
to the referendum, most of us were either brought up in the reserves or
missions and many of us were isolated from the mainstream society, right up to
1967.”
The
embattled activist said it was important to fight for changes like the referendum
because the Indigenous population was desperately in need of improvements in
welfare provisions.
“We had
meetings to discuss campaigns but no halls around here, in Redfern or in the
city, would rent to Aboriginal people. They’d say, ‘They’re all drunks, they’re
trouble makers’. We had to get white Trade Unionists to book a hall and then
we’d take over.”
Prior to
the constitutional amendments, remote rural areas that were inhabited by
Aborigines were not covered by the census, with the government making only
rough population estimates.
“They
counted sheep, dogs, cattle, even camels in the desert – but no blacks. It was
dangerous to count them because they’d have to supply them with housing and
health facilities, so it was easier by keeping the numbers down,” Bobby said.
On 27 May
1967, over 90 per cent of Australians voted “Yes for Aborigines” in
the referendum, with overwhelming support showing across all states. The
constitutional amendments allowed the Federal Government to make special laws
that applied to Aboriginal Australians and took on a symbolic significance as a
first step towards reconciliation.
Bobby agreed that although the Aboriginal community has
come a long way since the historic vote, much work is still needed to be done
in areas such as housing and health care.
“After housing, health follows. You can’t get one without
the other. There are also not enough services for mental health – with the
drugs that are going around today, the medical service is overloaded.”
Source:
South Sydney Herald June 2007 www.southsydneyherald.com.au/