'A knife in your heart' - Soul-searching over Indigenous vote loss

Heavy referendum defeat seen as a bitter blow in the struggle to advance reconciliation and improve the lives of First Nations Australians

- Sarah Collard and Elias Visontay

• 39.6% The proportion of yes voters nationally
• 63% The average percentage of yes voters in areas where Indigenous Australians formed more than half of the population
• 92.1% Ratio of the highest yes vote, in Wadeye, Northern Territory, where 85% of the population is Aboriginal

The day after Australians rejected a proposal to recognise First Nations people in the constitution, elder Geraldine Hogarth wept in her Goldfields home.

"It's a sad day for us. The grief hurts so much, it's like a knife in your heart," the Kuwarra Pini Tjalkatarra woman said. Hogarth has lived in Leonora, in Western Australia, all her life and has spent her life's work advocating for the education and wellbeing of community children - and was awarded an Order of Australia. Now she is wondering where to go from here.

Australia overwhelmingly voted against enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament to advise policy and lawmakers on issues affecting First Nations people. Just 40% of Australians voted in favour. The Australian Capital Territory was the sole jurisdiction to vote yes.

The defeat has been seen by advocates as a blow to a hard-fought struggle to progress reconciliation and recognition, with First Nations people suffering discrimination, poorer health and economic outcomes.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, called for Australians to show "kindness" to each other after the referendum. "This moment of disagreement does not define us. And it will not divide us," he said.