Great Australian Speeches: Faith Bandler’s Faith, Hope & Reconciliation

Faith Bandler AC was an Australian civil rights activist of South Sea Islander and Scottish-Indian heritage and a campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea Islanders. As general secretary of Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), there are many campaigns for which Faith Bandler was chief instigator and spokesperson, but she was perhaps best known for her leadership in the campaign for the 1967 referendum on Aboriginal Australians. Bandler was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on 11 June 1984, in recognition of her service to Aboriginal welfare and was invested as a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2009. This is her speech from the Talkin’ up Reconciliation Convention in August 1999, Faith, Hope & Reconciliation, read by Leonie Whyman. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this recording may contain names and words of deceased persons.