Blak History Month: Faith Bandler (1918–2015)

Faith Bandler was an Australian civil rights activist, writer, and campaigner for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as Australian South Sea Islanders. She is best remembered as one of the leading public figures behind the successful 1967 referendum campaign that helped remove discriminatory provisions from Australia's Constitution and expanded the Commonwealth government's ability to legislate for Aboriginal Australians.

Bandler co-founded the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship in 1956 alongside Pearl Gibbs, helping build a nationwide movement for Indigenous rights. Through speeches, public meetings, and grassroots organizing, she became one of the most recognizable advocates for the "Yes" campaign that culminated in the 1967 referendum, which passed with overwhelming public support. She later served as general secretary of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI).

Bandler's activism was deeply shaped by her family history. Her father, Peter (Wacvie) Mussing, had been taken from what is now Vanuatu through the practice known as 'blackbirding' and forced to work in Queensland's sugar industry. In the 1970s and beyond, she campaigned for official recognition of Australian South Sea Islanders and worked to improve access to education, health care, and housing for their communities. These efforts contributed to formal government recognition of Australian South Sea Islanders as a distinct ethnic community.

Her writing preserved both family history and the history of Australia's civil rights movement.

Bandler received numerous honors during her lifetime, including the Human Rights Medal in 1997 and appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2009. She also declined appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1976. Her work is widely regarded as central to Australia's modern civil rights movement and to raising public awareness of both Indigenous rights and the history of Australian South Sea Islanders.