1938

1. December

   Central Australian Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira, holds his first exhibition in Melbourne. All 41 works are sold in three days. He combines European painting techniques (mainly watercolours) with subject matter from his native land.

1620

1. The oldest dated rock painting is believed to come from the 1620s. The rock painting depicts a sailing boat and is proof of Aboriginal people’s early contact, possibly with Macassars from Indonesia fishing for trepang ^[1].

1903

1. Tasmanian Aboriginal woman Fanny Cochrane Smith is recorded singing in her native tongue, the first and only recording of Tasmania’s Aboriginal language.

1930

1. 2 June

   

   The first stamp of Australia showing a reference to Aboriginal culture celebrates the centenary of Exploration of Murray River (1½d red and 3d blue). It shows a boomerang, a coolamon, two spear heads and Lyre bird tail feathers.

1955

1. 12 March

   Melbourne stages its first Moomba festival. Approached about naming the festival, Aboriginal people suggest “Moomba”, telling the officials it means “Let’s get together and have fun!” Actually meaning “up your bum” the name was adopted and is still used.

1950

1. 14 August

   

   The portrait of Gwoya Jungarai (c.1895-1965, also spelled Tjungurrayi or Djungarai) of the Warlpiri people, Central Australia, appears on the 8 1/2 pence (8 1/2d) and two shillings and sixpence (2s.6d, issued 1952) definitive stamps. It is the first time a living Australian — settler or Aboriginal — is featured on a stamp.

   The stamps become widely known as “One Pound Jimmy” because when asked the price of his artefacts for sale Gwoya always replied “One Pound”. Tjungurrayi was a stockman, traditional lawman, and survivor of the brutal 1928 Coniston massacre. His portrait is later engraved on the two dollar coin.
   

1964

1. Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) becomes the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. She goes on to become one of the best known and most respected authors in Australia and overseas.

2. The Legends of Moonie Jarl is the first Aboriginal children’s book published in Australia. It is also the first Aboriginal children’s book in schools. It is republished more than 50 years later, in 2015.

1968

1. 6 November

   

   First named Aboriginal person honoured on an Australian stamp. Artist Albert Namatjira appears on the Famous Australians issue. He was also the first Aboriginal person to be accepted as a citizen of the Commonwealth in 1957.

2. Desecration of the Weebo sacred site in central Western Australia through pegging of mineral claims eventually leads to the Western Australian Heritage Act being proclaimed in 1972.

3. First Aboriginal debutante ball at Sydney Town Hall. Prime Minister John Gorton was one of the guests.

1971

1. Jack Charles and Bob Maza found the first Aboriginal theatre company Nindethana.

1972

1. Bruce McGuinness and Martin Bartfeld shoot “Blackfire” which focuses on Aboriginal communities in Melbourne. It is the first film known to have been made by an Aboriginal Australian.

1978

1. Galarrwuy Yunupingu, a leader of the Yolngu tribe in the Northern Territory, receives the Australian of the Year award. ⇒ Famous Aboriginal people

1992

1. 26 January

   The first Survival Day concert is held in Sydney.

1993

1. September

   

   In a first for Vogue, Aboriginal model Elaine George of Brisbane becomes the cover girl for the September issue of Vogue Australia 1993, leading to a career as an international model. Elaine, a descendant from the Arakwal people of Byron Bay, was discovered as a 17-year-old at Dreamworld, a Gold Coast amusement park, by freelance photographer Grant Good. The issue became the highest selling Vogue in the then 34-year history of Australian Vogue.

1996

1. Richard Frankland becomes the first Aboriginal director to win an AFI Award for his documentary No Way To Forget.

1999

1. 16-year-old Daniel Walbidi, from Yulparija, walks into Broome’s Short Street Gallery and asks owner Emily Rohr for painting supplies, inspiring his Yulparija elders, aged in their 70s and 80s, to start painting the stories of their ancestral desert lands they had left more than 40 years prior, and thus sparking an art movement. He went on to become one of Australia’s finest contemporary artists.

2000

1. 17 September

   

   Australia Post's Australian Gold Medallists issue shows the first stamp of 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 in such a way.

2001

1. 20 March

   

   As part of its Rock Australia issue, Australia Post issues a stamp commemorating the 10th anniversary of Yothu Yindi’s song ‘Treaty’.

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References