Should we be counted? - The 1967 Referendum

What we propose

We have created Indigenous Data Services to offer access to high quality and up-to date information on the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and all the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Our aim is to cover all reliable sources of information - including publications, policy and research papers, statistics and other data.

We see Indigenous Data Services as a one-stop, online shop for the extensive range of multi-media material now being produced by Indigenous communities across Australia. We will bring information together from across community organisations, Indigenous communities, institutions and government agencies.

We plan to engage Indigenous communities to collect much of the information, publications and data themselves, assure its accuracy and reliability and then provide it, through Indigenous Data Services. Content will include information packages on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities for visitors and tourists; economic data and social indices on employment, housing, health, education and business for policy makers, as well as global information about Indigenous people and cultures such as economic and political status and cultural strength.

Background to Indigenous Data Services

Murri Mura and other Indigenous community organisations are constantly called on to provide information, research papers, workshops and presentations on Indigenous social and economic issues, arts, culture and history by a vast range of interested individuals and institutions, both in Australia and overseas. This is often difficult to source, and information is often out-of-date or unreliable.

Over the past few years we have been discussing the value of a small information service and bookshop that would provide a focus for these requests

Our aims are to:

• Disseminate more, and more reliable and accurate, information about Indigenous people and our achievements
• Enhance the level of awareness about the lives and status of Indigenous peoples (especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) among the reading public,
• Provide children, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, with learning about the lives of Indigenous people plus the extent of knowledge that Indigenous people have about the world.