Faith Bandler Essay

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“We can change anything. We can make a just and peaceful world. History has shown that a genuine people’s movement can move more than governments. It can move mountains” (World People 's Blog, 2006). These are the insightful words of Faith Bandler, one of the most significant women in the ten-year campaign for the rights of the Australian Aboriginal which ultimately led to the 1967 Referendum. Faith Bandler was given many popular awards by the media some of which include; being listed as a national living treasure in 1997 by The National Trust, being included as one of the 100 most influential Australians of the 20th century by the Herald in 2001, and being included in a list of 50 women considered the most influential in the world by The Good …show more content…

Bandler was highly influenced by her mother, who even during theGreat Depression, insisted on continuing school as long as she could for her eight children because she knew it was for the best. Another influence on her life was the attention given to her by the media. For ten long years, Faith valiantly spoke for the petition to remove sections that were discriminatory from the Constitution; that means for ten long years she was in the eye of the media. There were many positive voices during her campaign, but the negative ones are less explored because of a lack thereof. However, one account by McGregor Russell states: "Bandler was so sensitive to criticism that she regarded any questioning of the moral rightness of the 'yes ' case as an exhortation to vote 'no '…" (Russell, 2008). On the other hand, the positive media attention was abundant: most articles were exceptionally kind when regarding Mrs. Bandler. Her advocacy also brought attention from the Australian Journal of Social Issues to not only her cause but also to Aboriginal issues of all sorts. In a report entitled Debating Indigenous Issues: More Continuity than Change, it was recorded that of the almost 900 stories published in the AJSI in the first thirty-nine volumes, over sixty were dealing with Indigenous issues. Comparatively speaking, that is a significant amount thus reflecting the idea that these issues are among the most important, as well as the most difficult and troublesome facing Australian history (Johns & Sanders,

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