History Lesson: Australia. Here's a stunning fact I just learned watching some travel program on PBS: up until 1967, aboriginals in Australia were considered part of the "flora and fauna" of the island. Therefore, they weren't allowed to vote or included in the census. During a national referendum on May 27, 1967, 90% of voting Australians agreed that aboriginals should be granted rights to citizenship in their own country! Amazing. The movement for aboriginal rights occurred concurrently—and in solidarity with—other movements for indigenous and civil rights in the US and around the world, including the American Indian Movement, the Black Panthers, and, in New Zealand, the drive for Maori rights. While New Zealand's indigenous peoples gained the right to vote much earlier, this revelation—Australian indigenous people were viewed by white Aussies as akin to shrubs and kangaroos until only 40 years ago!—gives context for the work of Maori activists like Tame Iti across the Tasman Sea.