As the night of 14 October wore on, it became clear fairly quickly that the referendum to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament to government would be defeated. For some, this was a source of elation; for many others, profound sadness. However, for a discrete group of Australians—those with even a passingly competent understanding of the complexity of the Australian constitution—there was a distinct accompanying feeling. That feeling was resignation, informed by the knowledge that any attempt to amend the constitution was always going to be immensely difficult.

The challenge in changing the constitution can partly be ascribed to the fundamental nature of the constitution, which is, to borrow a phrase from Gugulethu Mhlungu,[1] not so much one constitution but three constitutions in a trench coat pretending to be one. Mhlungu, a broadcaster, editor and author based in Johannesburg, used that phrase to describe the English language as a combination of multiple influences converging in one language.