Will you put it in the Australian 'Human Rights Hall of Fame'?
Curriculum areas: Australian history, historical skills, Indigenous culture & history, English, media
Years: 8–12
Key curriculum links: Time, Continuity and Change; Culture; Natural and Social Systems; Investigation, Communication and Participation, Thinking Processes and Communication
In May 2007 the National Museum of Australia, in association with Monash University, produced a substantial website, Collaborating for Indigenous Rights, with a particular focus on the 1967 Referendum.
This unit of work helps students to interrogate the website and in doing so to come to a better understanding of this important event. In completing the unit, the students will decide whether the 1967 Referendum was a major turning point in the achievement of Indigenous citizenship rights in Australia, or whether it achieved very little and was more 'show than substance'.
In order to come to a judgement about this important historical event, students explore a wide range of primary source materials including petitions, Hansard speeches, Cabinet documents, newspaper articles, posters, museum exhibition displays and so on.
- The 1967 Referendum (PDF 10.6 MB)
Full, colour
- The 1967 Referendum (PDF 1.4 MB)
Black and white – smaller file
- Introduction and Activity 1 (PDF 1.2 MB)
The concept of citizenship rights
- Activity 2 (PDF 908.4 KB)
Existing rights before the referendum
- Activity 3 (PDF 3.0 MB)
Petitioning to change the Consitution
- Activity 4 (PDF 1.5 MB)
The role of Cabinet and parliament
- Activity 5 (PDF 850.8 KB)
The roles of peoples, groups and ideas in the Referendum campaign
- Activities 6 and 7 (PDF 444.9 KB)
The Referendum result and its impact
- Activity 8 (PDF 428.2 KB)
Representing the Referendum at the National Museum
