The traditional owner, an older woman with a tough grace, welcomed us to her land. Her words were plain and her voice was tinged with a sense of pride. Her group was one of the few in southern Australia to obtain a native title determination recognising the members as native title holders. They were now part of the social fabric of this small rural town in Victoria, and before the proceedings had commenced, one of the local dignitaries had engaged her in quiet conversation. I overheard a few of her words: ‘next meeting’, ‘can’t see any problem with the proposal’, and ‘good rain’. Everyone was talking about the rain. There had been more rain since January when the floods had hit, and all the waterholes and creeks were overflowing. It was still raining.

Here at the clubhouse at the local golf club in Horsham, a hardy few had come from the town and district in the freezing cold to hear me explain the work of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition. A few town dignitaries were joined by retirees who had voted in the 1967 referendum; there were some town residents and others who lived on the craggy western side of the Grampians in native forests.