27 July

The YES Coalition is launched in New South Wales. Women attending the launch in Sydney included Aboriginal leader, Ms Norma Ingram, and Uniting Church minister, Dorothy McRae-McMahon. Norma Ingram said that it was significant that the meeting was being held on Bennelong Point named after the first Aboriginal person that the British had tried to make British. He had died of a broken heart but the YES Coalition was to bring new life to the land. Dorothy McRae-McMahon objected to the view that the that a republic was all too difficult: “We are not prepared to wait until the next generation. I refuse to die before we have a republic.” She said that it was pathetic, boring and lacking in imagination to argue that no change was necessary on the eve of a new century. The opening welcome was by Sylvia Scott on behalf of the Eora people who said that she could see her ancestors walking where the Botanic Gardens are now. She thought that they would prefer a republic. Drawn from Tony Stephens’ report in the SMH.