*On this date in 1967, Aborigines were formally counted in Australia’s census for the first time. Ninety percent of white Australians voted in this referendum for a proposal to count Aborigines in the census and to allow the federal government to make special laws for them.
Until then, their affairs had been administered solely by the states. The other proposal, to break the nexus between the Senate and the House of Representatives, which dictates that the latter has twice the number of members as the former, was rejected.
The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines had already proposed a reform plan, which included an education foundation, an arts and crafts council, a national survey of Aboriginal matters, and a policy to address their community needs.
