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Resistance to European invasion
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Period: to
• Aboriginal people are excluded from the Census
Between Federation in 1901 and 1967, the Commonwealth Constitution Act, Section 127 -
Assimilation Policy of 1937
The aim of assimilation was to make the ‘Aboriginal problem’ gradually disappear so that Aboriginal people would lose their identity in the wider community. -
Day of Mourning
The Day of Mourning was a day of protest held by Aboriginal Australians on 26 January 1938, the sesquicentenary of British colonisation of Australia. It was declared to be a protest of 150 years of callous treatment and the seizure of land, and was designed to stand in contrast to the Australia Day celebrations held by the European population on the same day. -
Pilbara Aboriginal Pastoral Strike
The 1946 Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for human rights recognition and payment of fair wages and working conditions. The strike involved at least 800 Aboriginal pastoral workers walking off the large Pastoral Stations in the Pilbara on 1 May 1946, and from employment in the two major towns of Port Hedland and Marble Bar. The strike did not end until August 1949 and even then many indigenous Australians r -
Aboriginal People given the rights to vote
In March 1962 the Menzies Liberal and Country Party government finally gave the right to vote to all Aboriginal people -
Freedom Ride
In February 1965 a group of University of Sydney students organised a bus tour of western and coastal New South Wales towns. Their purpose was threefold. -
Australian Aborigine's Progressive Association formed
The Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), an all-Aboriginal body, was formed in 1937 in New South Wales with Jack Patten as president and Bill Ferguson as secretary. The APA, together with William Cooper, was responsible for organising the Day of Mourning protest on Australia Day in 1938. The APA had three aims: full citizenship rights for Aboriginal Australians. -
1967 Referendum
On 27 May 1967 a Federal referendum was held. The first question, referred to as the 'nexus question' was an attempt to alter the balance of numbers in the Senate and the House of Representatives. -
Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a controversial semi-permanent assemblage claiming to represent the political rights of Australian Aborigines. It is made up of a group of activists, signs and tents that reside on the lawn of Old Parliament House in Canberra, the Australian capital. It is not considered an official embassy by the Australian Government. -
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 passed
The RDA was Australia’s first federal anti-discrimination law and applies throughout Australia to all people regardless of their age or where they live. The RDA aims to ensure that everyone is treated equally, regardless of race, colour, descent, immigration status and national or ethnic origin. -
Uluru handed back to traditional owners
The Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976 (ALR Act) was the direct result of an inquiry led by Justice Woodward, established by the Whitlam government. -
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
On 10 August 1987 Prime Minister Hawke announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of deaths of Aboriginal people while held in State and Territory gaols. The Royal Commission was established in response to a growing public concern that deaths in custody of Aboriginal people were too common and poorly explained. The Letters Patent formally establishing the Commission were issued by the Governor-General on 16 October 1987. Similar Letters Patent were issued by the Stat -
26 January 1988
Aboriginal people erected the Tent Embassy in 1972 in Canberra to protest ... The embassy was re-established and remained on the lawns of Parliament House
