Aborigines remain in poverty, bad health
China Daily | Updated: 2007-05-28 06:52
A group of traditionally dressed Aborigines play didgeridoos and music sticks as they lead a march through Sydney on Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal referendum. Reuters |
An overwhelming 91 percent of Australians voted in favor of reforms in the 1967 referendum that gave the federal government the power to make laws covering Aborigines and to count them in the official census for the first time.
Before then, Aborigines' legal rights varied from state to state, with some jurisdictions including them in laws covering wildlife and plants.
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