Bill Onus, President of the Victorian Aborigines' Advancement League at a march for Aboriginal rights, May 1967

In May 1967, after 10 years of Aboriginal rights campaigning, a referendum on Indigenous recognition in the Australian constitution was held. The lead-up to the poll focused public attention on the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were treated as second-class citizens.

Nearly 91 per cent of the electorate voted to amend the constitution. This change was seen to reflect public recognition of Aboriginal people as full Australian citizens.