More than half a century ago, Australians were asked to head to the polls in a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as part of the population and allow the federal government to make laws for them.
The referendum in 1967 was the culmination of decades of campaigning by Indigenous leaders for the rights and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Overwhelmingly, the population supported the proposal, with more than 90 per cent of the population voting in favour — the biggest yes vote at a referendum ever recorded.
The movement catapulted activists into prominence, creating household names like Sir Doug Nicholls and Charles Perkins.
Now, on the anniversary of the historic vote, families of some of the key campaigners are reflecting on what has and hasn't changed in half a century for Indigenous people.
1967 families reflect on landmark campaign
Patricia Waria-Read, a Ngadjuri woman from South Australia, is the daughter Winnie Branson, one of the key campaigners behind the 1967 referendum.
Ms Waria-Read remembers her mother being passionate about improving the rights of her community.
"There were lots of social justice issues that weren't being addressed by the government," she said.
"So she became part of that movement that looked at ways and strategies to actually address those unequal parts of how the government weren't answering, why weren't we getting the same equal treatment as everybody else.
"She was a very strong woman … very vocal, very articulate, and knew what she wanted for our people."
As a teenager, Ms Waria-Read was also brought in to help with the campaign.
"As a 14-year-old, I was very inspired by my mother," she said.
"I wanted to give my best and support my mum as much as I can. And we all did. That was part of our job … our younger generation, our 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds.
"So I was only 14 then and I'm 75 now and I'm still an activist through my mum's training."
Rachel Perkins, an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman from Central Australia, is the daughter of Charles Perkins, who led the Freedom Ride in 1965 in solidarity with the US civil rights movement.
"They had a protest in support of a civil rights movement," she said.
"And people rightly said, 'Well, hey, what about in Australia? What are you doing about that?'"
What started as solidarity progressed to a protest movement raising awareness for Indigenous rights.
"It was catapulted into the Australian consciousness, this issue of the inequality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. And so that was in 1965, right in the middle of sort of the lead-up to the referendum campaign.
"I think that amazing national exposure that the Freedom Ride gave the cause of Indigenous people really buoyed public opinion in favour of a positive yes vote for Indigenous people in Australia."
Ms Perkins is now one of the people working on the campaign for a Yes vote on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
"There's a really clear line from 1901, when the constitution was first created, to 1967 when we were finally included in the constitution, to now 2023, when the ancient identity of the country will be recognised, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be recognised through the form of a Voice," she said.
Ms Perkins says her father would be disappointed that there is still such a gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the broader population.
"I know my father felt deeply unhappy that the unfinished business of this nation was not completed in his lifetime, and that Indigenous people hadn't reached the social status of equity with other Australians," she said.
"That was a cause of great pain and frustration to him.
"I do feel often saddened that this was not done in my father's lifetime. And I suppose I do feel responsible for bringing it forward."
Government hopes to replicate success of 1967
In 2023, 56 years since the first time the country voted on the rights of Indigenous people, Australians will be asked to vote on the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders again, this time on whether they should be recognised as the First Peoples of Australia and have the right to give advice to the federal parliament on issues that affect them through an advisory body called a Voice.
The federal government made an election promise to give all Australians the opportunity to vote on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Speaking from Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said she hoped to see a similar result to the 1967 referendum later this year.
"In the 1950s and 1960s, activists had organised petition drives and drawn attention to numerous examples of discrimination and segregation across the country," she said.
"In 1967 Australians voted Yes, in 2023 Australians can again vote Yes, this time for constitutional recognition through a Voice."
Ms Burney was a child when the 1967 referendum was held, but remembers elements of the campaign, and the difference the vote made to her life.
"As a nation, we look back at the 1967 referendum, at Charlie Perkins and his freedom rights, at more than a 90 per cent vote for Yes, which was done with great pride," she said.
"Remembering people who brought us to the '67 referendum reminds us that this "yes" did not happen on its own. In the 1950s and '60s, activists organised petition drives and drew attention to the numerous examples of discrimination and segregation across the country."
She also responded to comments published in The Australian by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who said reconciliation would be set back by a failed referendum, but ultimately the responsibility lay with the Prime Minister.
"If Peter Dutton was fair dinkum about supporting reconciliation, if he was fair dinkum about uniting and not dividing, then Mr Dutton would vote in favour of the bill next week," she said.
"And Mr Dutton would vote "yes" in the referendum later this year. This is not something that is negotiable."
