For many Australians, 2023 was the year of the Voice to Parliament referendum.
As the last voters head to the ballot boxtoday to have their say, here's a look back in pictures at how we got here.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the nameandimage of an Indigenous person who hasdied.
On March 23, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fronted themediato announcethe wording of the question Australians would be asked attheVoice to Parliament referendum.
Choking back tears, andsurrounded by Yes campaign advocates including Thomas Mayo and Marcia Langton, he also announced the constitutional changes that would be made if the Voice succeeded.
"For many, this moment has become a very long time in the making," he said.
After, Opposition Leader Peter Duttonspoke alongsidehis then-shadow attorney-general and IndigenousAustralians minister Julian Leeser.
They called for the solicitor-general's advice on the wording to be made public.
But Mr Dutton said the Liberals had not yet decided their stance on the Voice, despite Coalition partners the Nationals announcing their opposition back in November.
That changed just a few weeks later. In April, Mr Dutton announced the Liberal Party's formal opposition tothe Voice proposal.
Mr Dutton said while the opposition supported recognition of First Nations people in the constitution, it did not support a constitutionally enshrined consultative body.
"It should be very clear to Australians by now that the prime minister is dividing the country and the Liberal Party seeks to unite the country," he said.
TheLiberals' decisionled toformer Indigenous Affairs minister Ken Wyatt quitting the party the next day,and Mr Leeser quitting the Liberal frontbench a week later.
Both went on to becomeprominent advocates for the Yes vote.
Party politics on the issue also had an impact on the left,whenLidia Thorpe resigned from the Greens earlier in theyear over the party's support for the Voice.
In April, following Mr Leeser's resignation, Mr Dutton announced his new shadow frontbench, which included Northern Territory senator and prominent Nocampaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as the new shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.
The pair had recently returned from a visit to Ms Price's hometown of Alice Springs, which hadbeen suffering from skyrocketing crime rates.
In late May, the billto set up the referendum passed the House of Representatives, with 121 members voting in support and 25 against.
It passed the Senate the next month, following passionate debate 52 votes for and19 against.
The Senate chamber erupted in applause as president Sue Lines announced the result.
June sawIndigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney attendtheBarunga Festival in the Northern Territory.
The event marked the 35-year anniversary of Indigenous leaders presenting the Barunga Statement to then-prime minister Bob Hawke,calling for a treaty and formal recognition of the rights of Indigenous people.
In a nod to that statement,the territory's four Aboriginal land councils presented Ms Burney withthe Barunga Voice Declaration, a document urgingall Australians to support an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
At Australia's other major First Nations festival, Garma,in early August, Mr Albanese promised the Voice referendum would be held in 2023.
It was the first Garma Festival since thepassing of event co-founder and Aboriginal land rights leader Yunupiu in April.
There, Mr Albanese met with the Dilak Council a decision-making body made up of senior Yolu leaders representing 13 clan groups from the regionwhich he saidcould be a model for a Voice to Parliament.
Later that month, the Liberal Party launched theirNo vote campaign in Perth, attended by morethan 1,000 people.
Ms Price, prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine, Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cashand Shadow Minister for Child Protectionand the Prevention of Family Violence Kerrynne Liddle were all in attendance.
"This proposal is about dividing on the lines of race," Ms Price told the crowd.
At the end of August, the Yes campaign ramped up when Mr Albanese announced the referendum date October 14 at an event in Adelaide attended by hundreds of Yes supporters.
"On that day, every Australian will have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together and to change it for the better," he said.
In September, Marcia Langton gave an address at the National Press Club, callingout abuse directed towards Yes campaigners in the lead-up to the referendum.
She made headlines around a week later forhittingback against claims she said No voters were racist.
Ms Langtonsaid her comments, which were made at a voters'forum, had been misreportedand she hadinstead said tactics used by the No camp were "based in racism and stupidity".
Later that month, Ms Price delivered aspeech at the National Press Club in which she said theVoice to Parliament proposal was "flawed in its foundations".
But her assertion there were "no ongoing negative impacts of colonisation" received significant backlash.
Beyond the official Yes and No campaigns, grassroots movements were takinghold across the country in the lead-up to the referendum.
Australian of the Year Local Hero Amar Singh drove from Sydney to Darwin to engage with multicultural communities for theYes campaign, whilethe Yarrabah community in Far North Queensland called for a Yes vote through art and fashion.
On the No side, community events were held, and some prominent Indigenous leaders such as Djiniyini Gondarra came out against the Voice.
As the wait for the referendum entered its final weeks, both sides took to the streets to spread their message.
Crowds of up to 30,000 people gathered in cities across Australia for 'Walk for Yes' rallies in September.
The following weekend, unofficial No vote rallies hit the streets inSydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra, as well as regionally in Casino, Yeppoon, Cairns and Mackay.
That same month, while many people in big cities and towns were still making up their minds, those in Australia's remotest communities many of them Indigenous had already started voting.
The Australian Electoral Commission began rolling outits remote voting system from September 26, using helicopters, planes, boats and four-wheel drives to traverse rugged terrain.
Nearing the finish line on October 14, Ms Price cast her vote inAlice Springs on Friday, while her fellow No advocate Warren Mundine attended polling booths in Sydney on Saturday.
Nationals leader David Littleproud campaigned for a No vote in Brisbane, where the rest of his campaign is set to join him on Saturday night.
Ms Thorpe cast her vote in Melbourne's northern suburbs on Saturday morning, before speaking to media.
All of the most prominent members of the Yes camp were in Sydney for some last-minute campaigning on Saturday morning, MrAlbanese.
Leading Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo joined Labor politicians Malarndirri McCarthy and Tanya Plibersek at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern.
Ms Burney cast her ballot with New South Wales Premier Chris Minns and Yes campaign director Dean Parkin in Sydney's south.
Excerpt from:
In pictures: The Indigenous Voice to Parliament debate of 2023 - ABC News
