The story of one family’s struggle for survival has been broadcast to children across Australia during National Reconciliation Week.
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Djiringanj and Narigo Elders Colleen and Glenda Dixon visited Canberra for the opening of the Right Wrongs Digital Exhibition, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, and to be part of the audience for this week’s episode of Q&A at Parliament House, featuring Noel Pearson, Pat Anderson, Megan Davis, Nakkiah Lui and Stan Grant.
They feature in a short film, describing life before and after their family was allowed to live in Bega, produced by Wolumla’s David Dixon and the ABC’s Vanessa Milton that will now be a resource for schoolchildren across Australia.
The family has close links to the 1967 referendum through their father’s cousin Charles "Chicka" Dixon, who was active in the decade-long campaign around the vote and the erection of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.
Mr Dixon, who grew up at Wallaga Lake, dedicated his life to fighting for basic human rights and justice for his people, and is one of a handful of Australians to have obtained their ASIO files and openly spoken about them in mainstream media.
The government agency’s files of the time labeled him "The Fox", describing him as "popular” and “well-dressed”.
He was instrumental in encouraging the media to question living conditions, like the ones on the outskirts of Bega.
Last week delegates rejected "simple acknowledgement" in the Constitution, calling for a representative body to be written into the document, and for the establishment of a process towards treaties.
“We need something that’s going to make our people happy,” Colleen said.
“We need to look at what we want, not what they want.”
Colleen was disappointed the Q&A episode lacked “substance”.
“I got nothing from it,” she said.
She said despite the 50 years that have past since the referendum, unemployment, especially for women, is at extremely high levels in the Bega Valley.
“You think we’ve moved on from a lot of things, but in many ways we haven’t,” Colleen said.
Images of her family were printed in the Canberra Times in January 1968, after a crowd of hundreds gathered to see the family given keys to a home at the Glebe.
