Civil Rights
There are many Australians aware of the huge struggle for land rights of the aborigines but there are not nearly as many Australians aware of the struggle of civil rights. There have been stories recovered of aborigines and non-aborigines fighting together for aboriginal civil rights. These stories are now being revealed at the Melbourne Museum.
"While they and their stories are very well known in certain communities, their history hasn't been taught to the broader public, and people just don't know about it. Yet these people made huge waves of change."
- Kim Moulton, project officer at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum
On January 26, 1938, a large group of Aboriginal people gathered in Sydney at a protest that they called 'The Day of Mourning', which marked 150 years since European settlement. At this gathering, indigenous demonstrators demanded full civil rights and equality. This event marked the beginning of the Australian Aboriginal Civil Rights Movement. Twenty nine years later and after 10 years of protesting, 90 percent of Australians voted in a referendum in favor of removing references in the Australian constitution that discriminated against Aboriginal people.
“This is the kind of exhibition that makes you proud and ashamed to be Australian at the same time. You're ashamed that things were so bad. But you're proud of all these people who were so courageous.”
- Jay Arthur