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Epilogue to a Referendum

Epilogue to a Referendum IAN S. MlTCHELL The politicians were proud, the priests popular, the promoters pro­ pitiated, the public pleased. Being party to the most overwhelming referendum victory in the history of the Commonwealth of Australia demanded self-congratulation and the bestowal of bouquets upon all. Now that the tumult and the shouting has faded, we may consider more seriously the results of the "submission to the electors of a proposed law to alter the Constitution so as to omit certain words relating to the People of the Aboriginal Race", held on 27th May, 1967. In fact, the returns indicate not the resolving of a problem but its persistence. Examination of voting patterns at the State level and rating of data available from Western Australia show that the greater the. proportion of Aborigines resident in an electorate, the lower the vote recorded in favour 6f the proposal. Because Aboriginal population figures are incomplete the results of this analysis cannot be taken categorically. Nonetheless, it is patent that the trends disdosed are explicit enough to warrant reporting. The most authoritative reckoning of Aboriginal populations seems to be that published by the Department of Territories in July, 1967 (The Australian Aborigines, p. 62). These figures http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Social Issues Wiley

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© Australian Social Policy Association
eISSN
1839-4655
DOI
10.1002/j.1839-4655.1968.tb00434.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

IAN S. MlTCHELL The politicians were proud, the priests popular, the promoters pro­ pitiated, the public pleased. Being party to the most overwhelming referendum victory in the history of the Commonwealth of Australia demanded self-congratulation and the bestowal of bouquets upon all. Now that the tumult and the shouting has faded, we may consider more seriously the results of the "submission to the electors of a proposed law to alter the Constitution so as to omit certain words relating to the People of the Aboriginal Race", held on 27th May, 1967. In fact, the returns indicate not the resolving of a problem but its persistence. Examination of voting patterns at the State level and rating of data available from Western Australia show that the greater the. proportion of Aborigines resident in an electorate, the lower the vote recorded in favour 6f the proposal. Because Aboriginal population figures are incomplete the results of this analysis cannot be taken categorically. Nonetheless, it is patent that the trends disdosed are explicit enough to warrant reporting. The most authoritative reckoning of Aboriginal populations seems to be that published by the Department of Territories in July, 1967 (The Australian Aborigines, p. 62). These figures

Journal

Australian Journal of Social IssuesWiley

Published: Dec 1, 1968

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