Taking its title from the civil rights anthem of the same name, A Change Is Gonna Come looks at nine decades of Indigenous activism in Australia.

At the referendum, 90 per cent of Australians voted to have Aboriginal people counted in the national census and allowed the federal government to legislate laws on behalf of Aboriginal people.

Parliament could then tackle Indigenous issues directly, where as before it had been up to the states, who had done little to affect such change.

Senior curator Brenda Croft said there was profound optimism things would progress quickly after the referendum.

"What was wound through was the belief for Indigenous people that they were finally considered as human beings and citizens," Ms Croft said.

"Five decades later, the same frustrations are being echoed by the people who were there."

Speaking at the launch were referendum activists Joyce Clague and Ray Peckham.

Mr Peckham said the exhibit was historical.

"There should be more of it and there will be," Mr Peckham said.

Speaking for her mother, Yvette Clague said her mum was once described as "one of those east coast communist agitators".

"Change has come and continues to come in the face of oppression, disadvantage and discrimination whenever there are people brave enough and cheeky enough to get change," Ms Clague said.

"A nudge here and a big fat shove there."

The exhibit includes memorabilia from the referendum, including a ballot box from 1967, but also other items marking Indigenous activism, including Mervyn Bishops' 1975 photo of Gough Whitlam and Vincent Lingiari or the 1912 nulla–wooden club–belonging to Wiradjuri elder Jimmy Clements, who walked with John Noble for a week to attend the opening of Old Parliament House in 1927.

"The referendum and Mabo did not happen in a vacuum. They all built upon things that had happened previously," Ms Croft said.

"We have to say that you've got to learn from the lessons of the past."

A plaque in exhibit itself asks, "has change genuinely come or is it coming still?".