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It is a popular myth that a referendum to change the Australian Constitution in 1967 gave Aboriginals the vote. What the referendum actually did was to remove a provision from the constitution that excluded Aboriginal people from census figures which in turn were used to calculate the distribution and boundaries of electorates. This constitutional revision was required to correct the anomaly that while Aboriginal people already had the vote they were not included in the calculations used to make for electorates with approximately equal numbers of voters.

Australian Aboriginal's right to vote varied from territory to territory with some (including women) having the right to vote (though rarely exercised) from the 19th century. Federal legislation in 1949 and 1962 formalized voting qualifications for Aboriginal people and with the State of Queensland introducing legislation in 1965, all Australians of Aboriginal descent then had full voting rights in all parts of the country and were able to vote in the referendum that supposedly 'gave them the vote'.

See this article for full details:
http://www.aec.gov.au/voting/indigenous_vote/aborigin.htm

The myth that Aborigines gained the right to vote in the 1967 referendum is perpetuated by lazy and inept journalists and to a certain extent by the consent of a ruling class that likes to pretend that Australian society is less racist than it is. It has been conjectured that a popular referendum to actually give political rights to Aboriginal people would not have passed.

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