Referendum granted citizenship to all Indigenous people
Under the Nationality Act of 1920 (Cth), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders born after 1 January 1921 were deemed to be British subjects. This only applied to the then future Indigenous people, not the then existing population. Under the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 (Cth), those Indigenous people who were British subjects were automatically deemed to be Australian citizens, along with the non-indigenous population. In the 1967 Referendum, Australian citizenship was granted to all Indigenous people, regardless of date of birth.
The issue of voting is more complex. Prior to Federation, some of the Australian colonies permitted their indigenous population to vote. Others didn’t. With Federation, voting rights were granted to the Indigenous population only if they had been able to vote prior to Federation. In 1949, the federal government extended voting rights to any Indigenous person who had served in the armed forces. This did not apply to those states who had not yet granted voting rights to their indigenous population. Under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1962, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were given the option of enrolling and voting in federal elections. Unlike other Australians, this was not compulsory.
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