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Four Corners: Before the Referendum: Margaret Valadian speaks up

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Margaret Valadian
Four Corners: Before the Referendum: Margaret Valadian speaks up

SUBJECTS:  Civics and CitizenshipHistory

YEARS:  9–10


Imagine being asked to speak on behalf of your culture.

Explore and compare some of the attitudes of and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in 1967.

In the national referendum of that year, 90 per cent of Australian voters agreed that the affairs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be administered by the Australian Government rather than by disparate state and territory governments.

A week before the referendum, Margaret Valadian, a prominent Aboriginal Australian, provides her perspective on life in Australia.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Consider some of the myths and stereotypes regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. Where do these ideas come from? What attitudes and ideas do you have about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians? What has influenced your attitudes?
  2. 2.The interviewer describes some assumptions people made about Aboriginal people in the 1960s. How does Margaret Valadian challenge these ideas about race and colour? How does she distinguish between Aboriginal Australians and mainstream culture? What are some of the challenges that Aboriginal Australians faced at the time?
  3. 3.The presenter claims that the purpose of the interview is to understand what it means to be an Aboriginal Australian in 1967. Do you think all Aboriginal people would have agreed with Margaret Valadian? Where might there have been some points of difference?
  4. 4.Using the internet or your local library, research the 1967 Referendum. Investigate the official policies that were enforced on Indigenous Australians in your state or territory, the impact they had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the challenges they presented in the decades prior to the referendum.



Date of broadcast: 16 May 1967


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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