The Australian Women's Register

Australian State and Federal governments named the festivities around the Bicentenary of the invasion of Australia on 26 January 1788 by the British the ‘Celebration of a nation’. Various communities took a dissenting view, notably many Indigenous groups who united on 26 January 1988 to stage the largest Indigenous protest in the history of colonised Australia. This took the form of a peaceful march of 100 000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Sydney. It was part of a history of Indigenous observation of this day inaugurated by the 1938 Day of Mourning. As the Indigenous poet and campaigner Oodgeroo Noonuccal asked at the time of the Bicentennial, ‘from the Aboriginal point of view, what is there to celebrate?’. In 1987, Oodgeroo returned her MBE in protest against the upcoming 1988 Bicentennial celebrations.

Held in Brisbane in October 1982, the 12th Commonwealth Games attracted demonstrations from Aboriginal people and supporters, part of the campaign for land rights.

In February 1967, Prime Minister Harold Holt agreed to hold a national referendum in May 1967 as the result of a sustained campaign by the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) which was agitating for amendments to the constitution. There were two changes proposed, both of which were accepted by a vast majority of voters: (1) to remove a discriminatory clause in Section 51 (xxvi) which had prevented the Federal Government from legislating for Aboriginal people. This clause had meant States could enact their own laws relating to Aboriginal people; in this way Aboriginal people had been discriminated against and excluded from social services under State law; (2) Section 127, which excluded Aboriginal people from being counted in national censuses, was deleted.

Despite legislation enacted on 10 August 1967 as a result of the referendum, the effects of the constitutional changes were not immediate; some States were reluctant to repeal discriminatory laws, and did not do so for many years. The federal government was slow to act on its new powers. The ‘yes’ vote had also been concentrated in certain areas leaving a substantial ‘no’ vote in other areas.
The 1967 referendum has nevertheless been mythologised in Australia’s history as a high-water-mark of popular support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, and reflects the sustained efforts of generations of Indigenous advocates.

Sources: Horton (ed), 1994, Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia.
McGinness, 1991, ‘What FCAATSI fought for’

The inaugural Jean Arnot Luncheon was held at Parliament House, Sydney, on 8 April 1994, and originated from Jean Fleming Arnot’s 90th birthday celebrations a year earlier at the same venue.

The First International Women in Agriculture Conference was held from 1 to 3 July 1994, at the University of Melbourne in Victoria. It attracted over 850 participants from 33 countries, and was the largest agricultural conference held in Australia. It was a pivotal moment in the women in agriculture movement and in the process of securing a voice in decision making for rural women, nationally and internationally.  The conference was organised by women who were active in the movement, from farmers to their supporters and advisors in government departments and non-government rural organisations. Its aims reflected the concerns of women in agriculture: to raise the profile of rural women, to increase awareness of the economic, social legal and cultural factors affecting their status, and to provide learning opportunities to develop new skills and access to information and networks. Its focus reflected women’s concern with the social, environmental and cultural dimensions of agriculture, as well as the economic and production aspects, and their desire to develop and capture opportunities in world markets