Aboriginal timeline (1970 - 1999)
Late 20th century history
-
- 1970
Some people from Maningrida in the Northern Territory, left and went back to a preferred way of life on their home estates. These estates were called 'outstations' and later 'homeland centres'. By 1972 many people had moved back to their traditional homelands.
Aboriginal Medical Service formed in Redfern.
Limited land lease rights are given to Aboriginal people on Northern Territory reserves.
-
- 1971
Aboriginal Flag is designed by Luritja artist Harold Thomas and flown for the first time in Adelaide.
Evonne Cawley, an Aboriginal tennis player, receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people
Noonkanbah station workers walk off.
Gumatj Elders Millrrpum and others take on Nabalco Pty Ltd and the federal government in the Gove Land Rights Case following on from the Bark Petition. The Northern Territory Supreme Court ruled that Aboriginal people did not, under Australian law own the Arnhem Land reserve. This meant Nabalco could mine the land.
Larrakia people 'sit-in' at Bagot Road, Darwin as a protest against theft of their land.
Queensland Aborigines Act is passed. Under it some legal restrictions for Aboriginal people living on reserves are maintained. Aboriginal cultural customs are banned and reading matter, mail, recreation, and marital and sexual relationships are censored. Their work and wage worth can be decreased and their movements recorded.
NSW Aboriginal Legal Service is formed, followed by Aboriginal pre-school, Black Theatre and the Aboriginal Housing Company.
Neville Bonner become the first Aboriginal member of Parliament when he filled a casual Senate vacancy. In 1972 he is elected on the Liberal Party ticket in Queensland.
Evonne Goolagong wins Wimbledon Women's Singles title.
Aboriginal people are counted in the Census for the first time.
Principals of schools in New South Wales are no longer able to exclude Aboriginal children because of home conditions or community opposition.
-
- 1972
Self-determination (self-management) policy
January - July: The 'Aboriginal Tent Embassy' is pitched outside Parliament House in Canberra, demonstrating for land rights.
14 July: National Aborigines Day there are Australia wide strikes and marches by Aboriginal people.
23 August: NSW Director-General of Education approved the removal of the section of the teachers' handbook that allowed school principals the right to refuse enrolment to Aboriginal children because of home conditions or substantial opposition from the community.
Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act is proclaimed in Western Australia.
The Whitlam Government abolishes White Australia Policy and introduces a policy of self-determination. The change means having the right to cultural and linguistic maintenance and management of natural resources on Aboriginal land.
December: The Department of Aboriginal Affairs was established by the Whitlam Government. By 1975 offices had been established in all states and only Queensland had not transferred to the department all major responsibilities for Aboriginal policy and administration.
December: The Whitlam Government freezes all applications for mining and exploration on Commonwealth Aboriginal reserves.
Community controlled Aboriginal Medical Service is set up in Redfern, Sydney. The first in Australia.
-
- 1973
Mr Justice Woodward of the Aboriginal Land Commission delivers his first report, showing the way for a new approach to Aboriginal Land Rights.
Department of Aboriginal Affairs begins a national program to improve the health and health services of Aboriginal people.
The National Aboriginal Consultative Committee is set up to advise the federal government on Aboriginal affairs. Aboriginal people elect the members.
The NSW Aboriginal Land Trust is set up to receive freehold ownership of former Aboriginal reserves.
-
- 1974
Second Report of the Aboriginal Land Commission (The Woodward Report) is tabled, acknowledging Aboriginal people's link with the land; 'to deny Aborigines the right to prevent mining on their land is to deny the reality of their land rights'. His report is accepted in principle by all political parties and most states.
A Commonwealth Act establishes the Aboriginal Land Fund Commission to buy land for Aboriginal corporate groups. Since then many properties have been acquired throughout Australia. The fund was replaced by the ADC (Aboriginal Development Council) in 1980.
-
- 1975
1 June: Racial Discrimination Act is passed in the Federal Parliament. The Australian Senate unanimously endorses a resolution put up by Senator Neville Bonner acknowledging prior ownership of this country and seeking compensation for their dispossesion.
The National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation is set up.
Gurindji people receive leasehold title to some of their traditional land (Wave Hill Station) in the Northern Territory.
The Laverton Royal Commission in Western Australia investigating clashes between police and Aboriginal people at Laverton and Skull Creek in December, 1974 and January, 1975, found that police were unable to justify arrests and that some parts of the police story had been invented. The Premier, Sir Charles Court, dismissed the report as "a waste of money".
Ranger Uranium and Environmental Inquiry examines the effects of mining on Aboriginal people.
White Australia immigration policy ends.
-
- 1976
Establishment of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG).
Commonwealth Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act implements the main recommendations of the Woodward Report. The most significant land rights legislation in Australia, the act transfers reserve land to Aboriginal ownership (around 11,000 people) and administration to Land Councils. It gives statutory recognition to the Northern Land Council and the Pitjantjajara Land Council is formed.
Census establishes national Indigenous population at 160,000.
Three Land Councils are founded and an office of Aboriginal Land Commissioners is created.
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency is established, rapidly achieving a 40% reduction in the number of Aboriginal children in children's homes. It is followed by the South Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (1978), Karu in Darwin (1979) and the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (1980).
In first claim under the Act, Mr Justice Fox, who ran the Ranger Uranium and Environmental Inquiry recommends that traditional owners in the Alligator River region be granted land. Mining and tourism continue to operate in the area.
Pat O'Shane graduates from UNSW, becoming the first Aboriginal person to be admitted to the Bar.
-
- 1977
NSW Anti-Discrimination Act comes info force.
NSW Land Council is established by Aboriginal people in Sydney.
Aboriginal woman Isobel Coe received $100 in damages in the Moree District Court, NSW against Malcolm Barber who refused her entrance to his bar.
The first Land Claim hearing to Crown land at Borroloola commences.
National Trachoma and Eye Health Program finds that of 60,000 Aboriginal people examined, more than half have trachoma. The infect rate is as high as 80 percent in some areas.
-
- 1978
Pat O'Shane becomes the first Aboriginal law graduate and barrister.
Galarrwuy Yunupingu, a leader of the Yolngu tribe in the Northern Terrirory, receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people
The Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Ordinance is passed, instituting prosecution for trespass and desecration of Aboriginal sites.
Health statistics show that 48 in every 1,000 Aboriginal babies in NT die before reaching 1 year of age. This compares to 1 baby in every 1000 in the white population. Of the 6000 Aboriginal children living in Sydney 4000 are underweight. Leprosy still occurs in the Aboriginal populations and alcohol is a serious problem.
Land titles are granted to 15 Aboriginal Land Trusts in the Northern Territory.
Western Australian Government agrees that some of the money earned by mining land held by the Aboriginal Lands Trusts "would go to the Aborigines".
3 November: The Northern Land Council and Commonwealth Government signed the Ranger uranium mining agreement.
-
- 1979
In "Coe vs Commonwealth", Coe is unsuccessful in challenging the legal concept that Australia had been an uninhabited land which had been settled not conquered.
By 1979 NSW Land Trust had gained 144 properties, all former Aboriginal reserves.
June: The Western Australian Supreme Court grants and injunction against the American-based Amax company which want to explore Noonkanbah for oil. Test drilling finally goes ahead despite Aboriginal resistance which is supported by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people across Australia.
National Aboriginal Conference resolves that a treaty should be concluded between Aboriginal people and the Commonwealth Government.
The first Indigenous parliamentarian, Neville Bonner, receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people
-
- 1980
The Pitjantjatjara Council advises the Aboriginal Affairs Minister of the possible radioactive contamination of Aboriginal people at Wallatinna Station, South Australia as a result of atomic tests. The 'Black Mist' of 1953 is brought to public attention with symptoms if sight loss and skin rashes being reported. A number of Aboriginal people die as a result of the British atomic tests and up to 1,000 are directly affected.
Link-Up (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation established. Followed by Link-Up (Qld) in 1988, Link-Up (Darwin) in 1989, Link-Up (Tas) in 1991, Link-Up (Vic) in 1992, Link-Up (SA) in 1999, Link-Up (Alice Springs) in 2000, and Link-Up (WA- seven sites) in 2001. Link-Up provides family tracing, reunion and support for forcibly removed children and their families (Stolen Generations).
Dispute at Noonkanbah, Western Australia, over drilling on sacred sites draws national and international attention to Aboriginal rights.
Jim Hagan is the first Australian Aboriginal person to address the United Nations in Geneva taking Indigenous matters to the international stage when the Fraser government fails to stop mining on sacred sites on Noonkanbah Station, about 300kms west of Broome, NT.
-
- 1981
Pitjantjatjara people of South Australia are granted land under the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act (SA). A large area of the state is returned to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara. Anangu Pitjantjajara, a corporate body, is established to administer some 100,000km of land for the Anangu people.
Secretariat of the National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care established (SNAICC). SNAICC represents the interests on a national level of Australia's 100 or so Indigenous community-controlled children's services.
-
- 1982
Victorian Premier Cain announces legislation is to be passed recognising the Aboriginal ownership of the Framlingham Forest near Warrnambool.
Aboriginal people at the Hermannsburg mission are granted freehold title.
October: Queensland Aboriginal people protest at the Commonwealth Games.
Northern Land Council sign an agreement with the Pan-Continental mining company allowing the company to mine uranium at Jabiluka.
Death of Joe Pat in Roebourne gaol (WA). The first death in custody to be widely protested and eventually leads to the setting up of the Muirhead enquiry.
Mark Ella named Australian of the Year.
Eddie Mabo commences proceedings in the High Court of Australia.
Ken Colbung, a Nyoongar Aboriginal activist from Western Australia, receives the Order of Australia Medal for his services to the Aboriginal community. Ken was heavily involved in Aboriginal politics and the main architect of the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act which came into force in 1972 [1].
-
- 1983
Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NSW) recognises dispossesssion and dislocation of NSW Aboriginal people, sets up local-regional-State land council network with land tax funding as compensation.
The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, developed principally due to the efforts of Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agencies (AICCAs) during the 1970s, is incorporated in NT welfare legislation to ensure that Indigenous children are placed with Indigenous families when adoption or fostering is necessary. This is followed in NSW (1987), Victoria (1989), South Australia (1993), Queensland and the ACT (1999), Tasmania (2000) and Western Australia (2006).
-
- 1984
End of various "protection acts", which had existed since 1897 in Queensland. Under these laws Aboriginal people were effectively slave labourers; the wages for their labour were stolen by the State or never even claimed by the State from the employers. The issue of reparation is still unresolved.
Lowitja O'Donoghue, a pioneering nurse and future ATSIC chairperson, receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people
-
- 1985
Commonwealth Government returns Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park (including Uluru/Ayer's Rock) to its traditional Aboriginal owners.
In the 'Come to Canberra Campaign' joint land councils from the Northern Territory and the States go to Parliament House, Canberra to protest against the proposed changes to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of the Northern Territory and the inadequate provisions in Hawke's visions of 'Uniform National Land Rights'.
The Pitjantjatjara council makes an agreement with Amoco Petroleum for exploration on 20 000 square kilometres of their land.
-
- 1986
- November29th
Pope John Paul II addresses the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in Blatherskite Park in Alice Springs.
The 'Goondiwindi riot' between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal residents of Goondiwindi on New South Wales - Queensland border leads to public acknowledgment of poor living standards and low socio-economic expectations of Aboriginal people in the area.
-
- 1987
Northern Territory elections are held and for the first time voting is compulsory for Aboriginal people.
A Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody begins in response to high rate of Aboriginal incarceration and deaths.
Imparja Television Company receives the first TV Broadcasting license issued to an Aboriginal organisation.
'Goondiwindi riot' results in the first public inquiry for the new HREOC - the Toomelah Inquiry which investigates the wider causes of racial conflict in New South Wales and Queensland border towns of Toomelah, Boggabilla and Goondiwindi. Significant resources are allocated to meet basic housing, water, health and education needs.
-
- 1988
26 January: Tens of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people march through the streets of Sydney on Australia Day to celebrate their survival during the previous 200 years, while non-indigineous Australia commerates the bicentenary of their immigration. Aboriginal people rename the day to 'Survival Day'.
Barunga Statement. Prime Minister Hawke affirms that the Government is committed to work for a negotiated Treaty with Aboriginal People.
Second Aboriginal cricket team tours England.
Human Rights Commission reports that conditions at Toomelah and Boggabilla settlements are worse than third world countries.
Australia's representative to the United Nations Human Rights Committee acknowledges 'public policy regarding the care of Aboriginal children, particularly during the postwar period, had been a serious mistake'.
Justice Muirhead presents interim report on Black Deaths in Custody.
High Court judgment affirms power of Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act over discriminatory state based legislation. The Court hands down decision on a claim by Mer people for native title rights to the Murray Islands. It allows the original claim to be heard, which the Queensland Government had attempted to block through introducing retrospective legislation abolishing land rights.
-
- 1989
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is established as main Commonwealth agency in Indigenous affairs.
-
- 1991
The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is set up, funded by the federal government, with cross-party support. The Parliament noted that there had not been a formal process of reconciliation to date, "and that it was most desirable that there be such a reconciliation" by 2001.
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody presents its 'Report and Recommendations' to the Federal Government. It finds that of the 99 deaths it investigated, 43 were of people who were separated from their families as children.
Legislation providing for land rights in Queensland are passed - the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 and the Torres Strait Land Act 1991. They are greatly inferior to the standard set by the Northern Territory legislation.
The Upper House in Tasmania rejects land rights legislation for Aboriginal people.
-
- 1992
The High Court of Australia hands down its landmark decision in Mabo v Queensland (Mabo Case, Mabo Decision). It decides that Native Title exists over particular kinds of lands - unalienated Crown Lands, national parks and reserves - and that Australia was never terra nullius or empty land.
Torres Strait Islander flag designed.
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs invokes the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Act to protect women's sites near Alice Springs, threatened by a dam proposed by the Northern Territory Government.
The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation issues its Strategic Plan for the next three years.
Mandawuy Yunupingu, leader of the Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi, receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people
10 December: Prime Minister Keating's Redfern Speech at the launch of the International Year of the indigenous People acknowledged past wrongs.
-
- 1993
International Year of Indigenous People.
The federal government passes the Native Title Act 1993. This law allows Indigenous people to make land claims under certain situations. They cannot make claims on freehold land (privately-owned land).
30 June: The Wik Peoples make a claim for native title in the Federal Court of Australia for land on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. Native Title Act does not pass through Parliament until December 1993.
-
- 1994
1 January: Native Title Act 1993 becomes law.
Native Title Tribunal is established to hear land claims. Indigenous Land Fund is established as part of federal government's response to the Mabo decision.
Going Home Conference, Darwin, brings together over 600 Aboriginal people removed as children to discuss common goals of access to archives, compensation, rights to land and social justice.
9 August: The UNs General Assembly mark this day as the International Day of the Worlds Indigenous People.
-
- 1995
29 January: Justice Drummond in the Federal Court makes a decision that the claim of the Wik and Thayorre Peoples could not succeed over the areas that were subject to pastoral leases. The Judge's reason was that he considered that the grant of pastoral leases under Queensland law extinguished any native title rights.
The Wik and Thayorre peoples appeal to the High Court.
In May the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families is established in response to efforts made by key Indigenous agencies and communities.
-
- 1996
September: The Jawoyn people in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory sign on to the largest single commercial deal in Australian history involving Aboriginal interests. The signing is a major expansion of Aboriginal involvement in the Pegasus Mt Todd Gold Mine.
23 December: The Wik Decision - the High Court reversed Justice Drummond's judgement. The High Court found that pastoral leases did not necessarily extinguish native title and that both could co-exist but where there was a conflict native title rights were subordinate to the rights of the pastoral lease holder. federal government develops 'Ten Point Plan' outlining a proposed legislative response to the High Court Wik decision, with the aim of limiting Aboriginal land rights.
Northern Territory and Western Australia pass mandatory sentencing laws which affect particularly Aboriginal youths.
Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party campaign against Aboriginal 'special treatment'.
Australia's first Aboriginal judge, Robert 'Bob' Bellear is sworn in as a New South Wales District Court judge. Bellear dies on 14 March 2005, aged 60.
-
- 1997
Reconciliation policy
March: Hamersley Iron and the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation finalise a unique regional land use agreement making the way of the $500 million Yandicoogina iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The agreement was the result of 20 months of consultation and negotiation.
10 March: Alcan South Pacific Pty Ltd enters into a detailed Heads of Agreement with the Aboriginal community in Weipa, Cape York, for a proposed bauxite mining and shipping operation from Alspac's existing mining lease at Ely, north of Weipa.
26 May: The 700-page report of the 'Stolen Children' National Inquiry 'Bringing Them Home', is tabled in Federal Parliament. The report concludes that the forcible removal of children was an act of genocide, contrary to United Nations Convention on Genocide, ratified by Australia in 1949. Australians are shocked by the report's details.
27 May: During the opening address of the Reconciliation Convention Premier Minister John Howard refers to the plight of Australia's Indigenous people as a mere 'blemish', dismissing centuries of dispossession and violence as insignificant. Indigenous delegates in the audience stand and turn their backs on the Prime Minister in protest. The PM snaps and screams at the audience in return.
In facing the realities of the past, [...] we must not join those who would portray Australia's history since 1788 as little more than a isgraceful record of imperialism [...] such an approach will be repudiated by the overwhelming majority of Australians who are proud of what this country has achieved although inevitably acknowledging the blemishes in its past history.—PM John Howard
April - May: In response to the Wik decision the federal government under Howard develops its 10 Point Plan as the basis for amending the Native Title Act 1993. These amendments are introduced in the Spring Session (September 1997) of the Commonwealth Parliament.
-
- 1998
January: Australians for Native Title (ANT) launches the Sorry Books campaign where Australians can sign who want to do something in response to the federal government's refusal to make a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.
A sample Sorry Book entry. Children, celebrities, migrants and visitors alike signed Sorry Books.
26 May: One year after the Bringing Them Home report the first Sorry Day is marked by hundreds of activities around the country. The Australian federal government does not take part in 'Sorry Day', saying people who removed Aboriginal children thought they were doing the right thing and people now should not have to say sorry for what people did in the past. Over 1 million signatures in thousands of Sorry Books speak a different language.
The federal government makes amendments to the Native Title Act. Under these changes, protection of native title is reduced.
Federal election results in a second Aboriginal person elected to Federal Parliament - Senator Aden Ridgeway. He is to remain a Democrats Senator for New South Wales until 2005, the only Indigenous person serving in the Australian Parliament during that time.
Aboriginal athlete and Olympic gold medallist Cathy Freeman receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people
-
- 1999
Mandatory sentencing in Western Australia and the Northern Territory becomes a national issue. Many call for these laws to be overturned because they have greater impact on Indigenous children than on non-Indigenous children.
Federal Parliament issues a statement of sincere regret over the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.
More Aboriginal timelines:
- Aboriginal statistic timeline (follow a typcial Aboriginal person's life)
- Aboriginal calendar of events
- Stolen Generations timeline
Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
www.dreamtime.net.au, www.hreoc.gov.au, www.austlii.edu.au, NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs,
www.racismnoway.com.au
[1] 'WA mourns loss of Elder', Koori Mail 468 p.14