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SYDNEY - Extraordinary though it seems, it was not until 1967 that Aborigines were recognised as citizens of their own country. Before that they were classified as native wildlife, along with kangaroos and koalas.
At the weekend Aborigines converged on Canberra to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a referendum that led to the constitution being amended. More than 90 per cent of white Australians voted in favour of including indigenous people in the national census, and empowering the federal government to make laws for them.
But those who had campaigned steadfastly for a decade hoped to achieve more than that. They hoped for justice and equality. The anniversary is a reminder of the inequalities that still exist in housing, health, education, employment and life expectancy.
Until the referendum, Aborigines were not, officially, human beings. They were "flora and fauna". They were confined to white-controlled reserves and forbidden to travel without special permission. They were not allowed in pubs, and were paid wages in meat and salt.
Linda Burney, the first indigenous member of the New South Wales Parliament, recalled her childhood, pre-referendum, last week. She told the Sydney Morning Herald she was taught that "my people were savages and the closest example to Stone Age man living today".
Burney, now 50, said: "I vividly remember wanting to turn into a piece of paper and slip quietly through the crack in the floor."
The Australian Medical Association last week blamed institutional racism in the health system, as well as "criminal underfunding", for a 17-year gap in life expectancy between white and black Australians.
A recent World Health Organisation report found that Aboriginal health lagged nearly a century behind that of the white population.
While some traditional lands have been handed back to indigenous people, they remain, on the whole, marginalised - socially, politically and economically. Burney is one of only a handful of Aboriginal politicians. The same is true of academia and the professions. Many communities are blighted by alcoholism and violence.
Black Australians are still waiting for an apology over children taken from their families.
- INDEPENDENT
