1967 is a photograph by Dave Laslett that was recently acquired for the Rotational Collection in the Parliament House Art Collections.

1967 is a portrait of Dunjiba man Mr Albie Hunt, whose baby photo featured on an iconic 1967 Referendum poster which was created and distributed by the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI).¹ At the time of the Referendum, he was eight years old. In the 1967 artwork, Mr Hunt holds a copy of this poster.

Courtesy of AITSIS.

The 1967 Referendum asked voters whether Indigenous Australians should be included in the official population counts, and whether to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws on behalf of Indigenous Australians, rather than at the state and territory level as they had been, leading to inconsistent treatment of Indigenous peoples across the country.

Nearly 91% per cent Australians of voters voted ‘Yes’, the most successful referendum in Australian history and the first referendum in which Indigenous peoples voted since they had the right to vote in 1965. These posters, featuring the faces of Aboriginal children, were an influential part of the yes vote campaign.²

As a baby, Mr Hunt was taken from his family in Dunjiba to the Umeewarra Mission, located just outside Port Augusta, South Australia. The photograph of Mr Hunt as a baby used on the poster was taken at the Mission. This is also the location of Laslett’s portrait of Mr Hunt holding the poster. Laslett obtained Mr Hunt’s full consent to the making and distribution of this portrait and has undertaken extensive oral histories with Mr Hunt and his family to understand more about his story.³

According to the artist:

While the referendum would go on to initiate significant change in Australian society, in 2019 Alby [sic] reflects on the past 52 years and wonders if anything has really changed.⁴

David Laslett
David Laslett (born 1978) is an artist, living and working in regional and remote communities of South Australia. He is a non-Indigenous photographer who has mostly lived and worked in First Nations communities, creating oral history recordings, cultural films, and an extensive practice in landscape and portrait photography for more than a decade. Laslett’s works have been recognised in multiple art prizes and group exhibitions nationally. He has been a finalist in the National Portrait Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize four times and won the Documentary and People and Culture category of the Australian Photography Awards in 2017 and 2016 respectively. Laslett received a Regional Arts Development Grant in 2021. In 2023, his solo exhibition DEVElemental toured Yarta Purtli, Port Augusta and Port Adelaide.

References
1. Dave Laslett, "Artist Statement", provided by Dave Laslett, February 12, 2023.
2. AIATSIS, "The 1967 Referendum", accessed April 1,2025. https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/1967-referendum
3. op. cit.
4. National Portrait Gallery, "1967, 2016 Dave Laslett: National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020 Finalist", accessed April 1, 2025. https://www.portrait.gov.au/npppphoto/94427/