When I was fauna: citizen's rallying call
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Jonathan Pearlman and Joel Gibson
May 23, 2007
May 23, 2007
LINDA BURNEY remembers her childhood well - those days when she was counted among the nation's wildlife.
"This is not ancient history," says the state's first Aboriginal minister. "I was a child. It still staggers me that for the first 10 years of my life, I existed under the Flora and Fauna Act of NSW."
Then came the 1967 referendum, when Australians voted to extend full citizenship to Aborigines. Now, just days before the 40th anniversary of that vote, Ms Burney has described the referendum as a high tide in both the nation's history and her own –
the moment when her status was elevated from fauna to citizen.
Subject: RE: Interesting -
