It's 50 years since Indigenous Australians first 'counted'. Why has so little changed?

Submitted by Paul Daley on Fri, 19/05/2017 - 6:00am

In 1967 Australia voted in a landmark referendum to finally include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in its census. But, as Paul Daley reports, the fight for genuine equality for the country’s first people is far from over

Sol Bellear, a former rugby league player for South Sydney Rabbitohs and Aboriginal rights activist, sits in the soft autumn sunshine at a cafe intersecting Redfern Park and the oval that remains the spiritual home of his beloved club.

He sips a Red Bull “heart starter” and English breakfast tea. And he shakes his head while contemplating the anniversaries of what ought to have been transformative moments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – starting with the 1967 “citizenship” referendum that first made their existence in Australia “official”.

After the referendum it was like the work was done ... when it was actually just the bloody beginning

They’ll suffer rather than seek treatment. I’m of the belief that racism does make you sick

The 1967 referendum gave us the right to be counted on the census, but it didn’t give us anything much else