Aboriginal timeline (2000 - today)

In the past, Indigenous history has been written by non-Indigenous people from a non-Indigenous perspective. —Pat Dudgeon, Bardi woman, former head of the Aboriginal Studies Centre, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia [3]

• « Late 20th century history (1970 - 1999)

Recent history

1. 2000

    

   March: Australia appears before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The committee criticises the government's inadequate response to recommendations from the Bringing Them Home Report.

   27 May - 3 June: Corroboree 2000 is held at Sydney Opera House to mark 10 years of work on Reconciliation. Here, the Council for Aboriginal reconciliation presents to the nation Corroboree 2000 - Towards Reconciliation which includes the documents 'Australian Declaration towards Reconciliation' and 'Roadmap for Reconciliation'. The roadmap outlines four national strategies to advance reconciliation.

   28 May: More than 300,000 take part in the People's Walk for Reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

   2000: First stamp of Australia showing a living Aboriginal person. Until 1997 no living person (Royal family excluded) was featured on Australia's stamps. Athlete Cathy Freeman is the only Aboriginal person who has been individually honoured on a stamp, with a portrait as a living person.

   Cathy Freeman wins gold in the women's 400m at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The opening and closing ceremonies celebrated Indigenous cultural identity and history and provided some deft political comment on contemporary Indigenous issues.

   An Aboriginal Tent Embassy is set up in Sydney during the Olympic period to attract world media attention to Australian Indigenous issues.

   The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation ceases to operate by the end of 2000. It is to be replaced by a new national body, Reconciliation Australia, in 2001.

2. 2001

    

   The Northern Territory overturns its mandatory sentencing laws.

   The Yeperenye Federation Festival outside Alice Springs becomes the largest corroboree ever staged in Australia, involving more than 25,000 people of 40 Indigenous nations. The programme is a celebration revolving around the theme of the Yeperenye (Caterpillar) Dreaming story and federation as seen from an Indigenous perspective.

   Aden Ridgeway is the first Indigenous person to be elected as a Parliamentary Leader when he holds the position of Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats from 2001 to 2002.

3. 2002

    

   The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Dr William Jonas, presents the Social Justice Report 2001 and Native Title Report 2001 to Parliament. In the report he questions: What happened to reconciliation? Both reports express serious concerns about the nation's progress in achieving the exercise of Indigenous rights.

   The Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee commences an inquiry into the Progress Towards National Reconciliation and is due to report by September 2003.

   The first member of the Stolen Generations is awarded compensation in the NSW Victims Compensation Tribunal for the sexual assault and injuries she suffered after authorities removed her from her family.

4. 2004

    

   The Commonwealth government establishes a memorial to the Stolen Generations at Reconciliation Place in Canberra.

   November: Mulrunji Doomadgee dies in a police watch house on Palm Island, 70 km north of Townsville in north Queensland. His death sparks violent riots during which the police station and officers' quarters are burnt down. Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley is found guilty of causing Mulrunji's death, but in late 2006 Queensland's Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, opts not to prosecute him. In February 2007 the Premier Peter Beattie orders a judicial review of the case and Hurley is charged with manslaughter. In June 2007 an all-white jury finds him not guilty. Hurley returns to work after having been suspended on full pay. An Aboriginal man, Lex Wotton, was found guilty on 24 October 2008 of "rioting with destruction" and sentenced to six years in prison.

   21 November: Casey Donovan, at just 16 years of age, becomes the youngest and first female winner of Australian Idol. She releases Listen to Your Heart a few days later.

   Michael Long, a former Australian Rules footballer of partial Aboriginal decent, sets out on foot from Melbourne to Canberra to speak to Prime Minister John Howard and raise awareness of the plight of Indigenous Australians. His walk becomes known as The Long Walk.

5. 2005

    

   The organisation 'Stolen Generations Victoria' is set up as a result of the 2003 report of the Stolen Generations taskforce. Its purpose is to establish a range of support and referral services that will assist Stolen Generations people to reconnect with their families, communities, cultures and lands (www.stolengenerationsvictoria.org.au).

   The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is dismantled by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Amendment Act 2005 and replaced by a Commonwealth government-appointed advisory board.

   The first official Sorry Day ceremony outside Australia is hosted in Lincoln Fields, London, on 25 May 2005.

6. 2006

    

   19 September: A federal court ruling grants one of the nation's largest native title claims to Perth and its surrounds (three times the size of Tasmania) to the Indigenous Noongar people. The West Australian government instantly appeals the ruling.

   October: The first Stolen Generations compensation scheme in Australia is set up in Tasmania by the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Act 2006 (Tas).

7. 2007

    

   15 June: Pat Anderson and Rex Wild release the Little Children are Sacred report which reports 'widespread sex abuse' of children throughout communities of the Northern Territory. The report makes 97 recommendations.

   21 June: Prime Minister John Howard and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough announce the Northern Territory intervention. Staged as a response to the 'Little Children are Sacred' report, the intervention is widely criticised because it also legislates to remove the permit system for access to Aboriginal land, abolish the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP), quarantine 50% of welfare payments, compulsorily acquire Aboriginal land and subject Aboriginal children to mandatory health checks.
   While the intervention receives bipartisan political support, many opponents label it an 'invasion' and promise a 'Little Children are Scared' report.

   24 July: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarra's painting Warlugulong breaks all sales records for Aboriginal paintings when it is sold at an auction for $2.4 million.

   1 August: Bruce Trevorrow is the first person to receive Stolen Generations compensation by a court. A court justice awards him $525,000 for 'pain, suffering and false imprisonment' [1].

   30 August: The High Court rejects legislation passed by the Howard government which denied all prisoners the right to vote. This law was challenged by Vickie Roach, an Aboriginal prisoner in Melbourne. But the Court upheld the validity of the law providing that prisoners serving a sentence of three years or longer are not entitled to vote.

   13 September: 143 member states adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Along with Canada, New Zealand and the United States, Australia is one of four nations to vote against the declaration, while 11 nations abstain.

   14 September: The National Aboriginal Alliance (NAA) forms in Alice Springs as a response to the intervention of the government in the Northern Territory. It describes itself as completely independent of government and committed to Aboriginal people's right to self-determination [2].

   24 November: John Howard loses the federal election in a landslide ('Ruddslide') defeat against the Australian Labor Party's candidate Kevin Rudd. Rudd promises to say sorry to the Stolen Generations and to consult with Aboriginal people.

   Marion Scrymgour becomes the first Aboriginal person to lead a state or territory government when she becomes Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.

8. 2008

    

   January: Ngaanyatjarra Elder Mr Ward dies in the back of a prison van because the two officers failed to give him water and offer him breaks while driving 320km through 42-degree heat in Western Australia. ⇒ Deaths in custody

   12 February: For the first time in government history Aboriginal people perform a Welcome to Country as the federal parliament opens after the break.

   13 February: The Australian Parliament apologises to the Stolen Generations. Both the government and the opposition support the apology and say 'sorry' to Aboriginal people who were taken away from their families from 1900 to the 1970s.

   1 May: South Australia creates the SA Aboriginal Advisory Council (SAAAC) which advises the government on programmes and policies on Aboriginal people. The council is meant to fill the void left by the abolished ATSIC.

   20 May: Patrick Dodson is the second Australian to receive Australia's only international peace prize, the Sydney 2008 Peace Prize.

   June: Aboriginal people in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) vote for Australia's first elected Indigenous representative body since ATSIC's demise in 2005. Seven representatives will be elected every three years to advise the ACT government on policy that effects the lives of the ACT's Aboriginal population.

   27 June: Nathan Jawai is the first Indigenous Australian basketball player to be drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA). He will play for the Toronto Raptors.

   3 July: 400 Aboriginal men take part in an Aboriginal male health summit and issue the Inteyerrkwe Statement, an apology from men to women for violence and abuse.

   31 July: The High Court hands down its Blue Mud Bay decision which says that the Northern Territory government could not grant commercial fishing operators licenses for areas within the boundaries of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act. This affects 80% of the NT's coast and tidal rivers where revenues of licenses flow now to Aboriginal people instead of the white government.

   August: The Canberra suburb of Bonner names public places and roads after prominent Indigenous leaders and their supporters. The suburb itself was named after Neville Bonner, the first Aboriginal person to sit in federal parliament as a Senator for Queensland from 1971 to 1983.

   September: Freddie Timms' 'Wunubi Spring' is the world's first chemically protected Indigenous artwork which uses a chemical fingerprint to protect the painting.

   28 October: The Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu) site is handed back to traditional owners after a 28-year native title battle. Its owners consider Karlu Karlu as one of the most significant sacret sites.

   29 November: Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting where state and federal heads announce they will contribute $806 million (federal) and $772 million (all states) into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health over the next four years, the biggest single injection of Indigenous health spending in decades.

   13 December: The Queensland government announces a new Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council. The council should provide a direct link between Indigenous people and the government. The 14 members are appointed for a two-year period.

9. 2009

    

   1 January: The NT government rules that the first four hours of education in all NT schools will be delivered in English, putting and end to 34 years of bilingual education in the Northern Territory by ending the nine remaining bilingual programs.

   9 January: The Western Australian government announces the formation of the Indigenous Implementation Board to improve social and economic outcomes for Aboriginals. The nine-member board aims to 'enhance Indigenous involvement in local decision-making and strengthen corporate and non-government contribution to Indigenous affairs'. Members are chosen for their expertise, not as representatives.

   26 January: Aboriginal law professor Mick Dodson receives the 2009 Australian of the Year award for his lifetime commitment to improving the lives of Aboriginal people and in helping to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

   30 January: The Northern Territory government and traditional owners settle one of the longest native title claims over the Cox Peninsula, about 30 kms west of Darwin. 80% of the area will be designated Aboriginal land for the Larrakia people.

   30 March: The Federal Court makes the largest native title determination in South Australia's history when it regognises rights of the Adnyamathanha people to land in and around the Flinders Ranges.

   3 April: Australia supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). After 20 years of negotiations, the declaration was formally adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007 with the support of 143 member states and the opposition of four (Australia, Canada, USA, NZ). The Howard government had rejected the declaration fearing a separate customary law.

   May: The Australian government allocates the largest amount of funding for a single year in the history of federal budgets to Indigenous affairs: A$4.8 billion. The biggest single item with A$106 million is for the Canberra bureaucracy to manage the income of Aboriginal people under the Northern Territory intervention.

   The Football Federation Australia announces a ten-year Indigenous Football Development Program to give soccer a higher profile in the Indigenous community and to lift the percentage of Indigenous players in the sport's elite level.

   Boxer Anthony Mundine claims his third world boxing title.

   The Northern Territory releases its first-ever policy for homelands and outstations, setting out how the government intends to provide services and infrastructure to assist communities living on Aboriginal-owned lands. ⇒ Aboriginal homelands

   July: After months of pressure Tangentyere Council reluctantly agrees to hand over Aboriginal community land to the Australian government for 40 years, in return for A$100m to upgrade housing and services in town camps in Alice Springs.

   15 July: When their community's sewerage system fails and raw sewage floods the street many members of the Ampilatwatja people walk off to camp in the desert during the Australian winter. ⇒ Aboriginal houses

   27 August: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma outlines the proposed model for a new national Indigenous representative body to fill the void since the demise of ATSIC in 2004. The model enables representation by Indigenous land councils, peak bodies and other Indigenous organisations, as well as a place for leaders operating at all levels. It has a 50/50 gender rule for representatives and an overseeing role of an ethics committee.

   16 November: The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says sorry to the Forgotten Australians which include migrants and Indigenous people who were victims of abuse in orphanages and institutions between 1930 and 1970. The Forgotten Australians suffered similar abuse as the members of the Stolen Generations.

   22 November: The government announces its support of the new representative body for Aboriginal people, called the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples (NCAFP).

10. 2010

     

    26 January: About 12,000 people attend the inaugural Saltwater Freshwater Festival in Coffs Harbour, reclaiming Australia Day as a positive inclusive day for the Gumbaynggirr community.

    12 February: Indigenous Sport Queensland launches the Queensland Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame.

    13 February: The Indigenous All Stars team plays the National Rugby League All Stars, two years after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations.

    17 February: Singer and actress Ruby Hunter dies of a heart attack aged 54.

• « Late 20th century history (1970 - 1999)

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] National Indigenous Times 135 p.4 [2] Koori Mail 413 p.6 [3] 'Woman talk leadership', Koori Mail 431 p.17