Julianne Schultz AM FAHA
One of the many reasons I will vote Yes is as a tribute to the old ladies who never gave up.
I met some of these women when I was young, and they have inspired me ever since.
Queensland was always hard on women, but First Nations women carried the heaviest burden.
Image credit: Breanna Dunbar
For more than a century Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people in Queensland were subjected to a brutal regime – and women were a particular target. The horrors many endured were unspeakable. They were removed from country and family, raped and subjected to violence, their languages banned, scarcely educated and poorly fed, forced to work for wages they never saw, their children taken, jailed for minor offences.
And yet some brave women prevailed.
They were determined that their experiences would not be the fate of future generations. They stood up to authority, they passed on their culture and language, nurtured their children and grandchildren. They demanded to be heard and treated as full citizens.
Meaningful recognition of Australia’s ancient and continuing First Peoples in the Constitution, and the Voice that makes this possible, is crucial. It is practical and symbolic. An essential first step towards treaty, truth and a fully formed nation, where everyone is fully respected. Queensland might then actually live up to its old slogan, ‘beautiful one day, perfect the next’.