2020

1. 24 July Recognition

   Australian cheese manufacturer Saputo announces after reviewing a "sensitive situation" that it will retire the brand name 'Coon' because of its "responsibility to eliminate racism in all its forms". The decision comes after many years of campaigning by Aboriginal activists.

2. 3 August Treaty

   The Victorian government meets with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria for the first time to officially begin formal treaty negotiations and establish a framework for further discussions.

   We’ve never seen this before. It’s never been something so tangible that you can feel you can reach it.

   — Marcus Stewart, Taungurung assembly co-chair ^[1]

3. 7 August Arts Recognition

   18-year-old photographer Yolngu woman Siena Mayutu Wurmarri Stubbs from Arnhem Land becomes one of the youngest winners in the 37-year history of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Australia's most prestigious Aboriginal art awards. She wins the multimedia category with a poetry and video artwork she filmed while on a bullet train in Japan.

4. 13 August Treaty

   The Queensland government establishes a Treaty Advancement Committee to provide independent advice on the implementation of the Eminent Panel’s recommendations. The government also accepts (supports and intends to implement), or accepts in principle (supports the intent but needs to consider further), all recommendations of the Panel. ^[2]

5. 17 September Arts Recognition

   Wongutha-Yamatji man and first-time Archibald Prize entrant Meyne Wyatt wins the 2020 Packing Room Prize with his self portrait, titled Meyne. It is the first time an Aboriginal artist has won any of the awards in the Archibald prize's history. (The Packing Room Prize is judged by gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries submitted to the Archibald prize.)

6. 25 September Arts Recognition

   APY man Vincent Namatjira, great-grandson of renown artist Albert Namatjira, wins the Archibald prize with a portrait of himself and AFL legend Adam Goodes titled Stand Strong for Who You Are and becomes the first Aboriginal artist to win the prize in its almost 100-year history.

   Indigenous art isn't just dot paintings ... We do everything – music, film, photography, contemporary art. We do it all, and we do it really well.

   — Vincent Namatjira ^[3]

7. 25 September Arts

   For the first time DNA data technology is used to preserve moving images for archival purposes, and for the first time an Australian video is encoded on DNA. The video chosen is that of Cathy Freeman running – and winning – the 400m Olympic race in 2000, and on this day projected onto the Sydney Opera House.

8. 30 September Health

   MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo's Orana Foundation unveils a database of more than 1,400 Aboriginal ingredients, detailed with their nutritional value, taste profile and potential commercial application. Designed to help make Aboriginal foods commonplace in Australian homes, the Foundation plans to hand over the database to an Aboriginal organisation to use and manage it.

9. 5 October Remains repatriation

   The Yindjibarndi people of Roebourne, WA, celebrate the unconditional return of eight secular items from Andover, United Kingdom (UK), where the family of a private collector had held them for more than 100 years. The items include a shield, spear thrower, two boomerangs and four wooden spear heads.

10. 30 October Arts Self-determination

    

    Midnight Oil, a non-Aboriginal band, releases The Makarrata Project, a mini-album of collaborations with Aboriginal artists. The album's cover shows the entire Uluru Statement From the Heart which about 250 Aboriginal delegates agreed on in 2017.

    We urge the federal government to heed the messages in the Uluru Statement From the Heart and act accordingly.

    — Midnight Oil ^[4]

11. November

    

    Brewery Sailors Grave launches Dark Emu – Dark Lager, a beer that contains roasted seeds of mamadyang ngalluk (Dancing Grass) and burru ngalluk (Weeping Grass), harvested by Yuin people in far east NSW. The beer was named after Bruce Pascoe’s ground-breaking book on Aboriginal agriculture.

12. 2 November Arts Recognition

    

    The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) issues a 6-coin 2021 year set that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Australian Aboriginal flag. The set includes a collector version of the coloured two dollar coin produced for circulation in 2021 (possibly around the 12 July) to commemorate the anniversary.

    The coin represents the flag with black and red fields printed over a relief pattern of miniature flags. The centre of the coin is not printed so that the gold of the coin’s alloy shines through, acting as the yellow colour representing the sun.

    It's the first time the RAM includes a coloured 2-dollar coin in a year set of coins.

13. 17 November Recognition

    After Gomeroi woman Rachael McPhail campaigned for Aboriginal place names to be included in postal addresses, Australia Post updated their addressing guidelines "to educate customers on how they can include Traditional Place names in addresses as a way of acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land an item is being sent from or delivered to". Other courier companies follow their example. ^[5]

14. 25 November Arts Recognition

    Archie Roach is inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2020 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards. He also wins Best Male Artist and Best Adult Contemporary Album for Tell Me Why.

15. 5 December Sport Recognition

    For the first time at an international sports event in Australia, the Australian anthem was sung in an Aboriginal language. Olivia Fox, a 17-year-old Wiradjuri woman and student at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, sang the national anthem in the Eora language at a rugby game (Wallabies vs Los Pumas from Argentina).

2021

1. January Treaty

   The Commonwealth government releases draft proposals from the Indigenous Voice co-design process.

2. 1 January Politics Recognition Reconciliation

   Prime Minister Scott Morrison changes the words of the national anthem. The second line of the national song is now "for we are one and free" instead of "young and free". The change recognises Australia's long Aboriginal history but also the waves of migration and how Australians have united in times of crisis. However, the PM did not consult with Aboriginal people. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had raised the idea for the wording change about a year ago. It is the first change to the anthem since 1984.

   Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, but our country’s story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples.

   — Scott Morrison, Prime Minister ^[6]

3. February Remains repatriation

   The Israel Museum in Jerusalem returns more than 1,800 artefacts including stone tools, grindstones, and other material. Carl Shipman of Melbourne donated the collection to the Israel Museum in the 1970s.

4. 20 February Arts

   Fists of Fire, Bruce's Lee's kung fu classic from 1972, becomes the first feature film ever to be re-voiced in an Australian Aboriginal language as Fist of Fury Noongar Daa.

5. 5 March Recognition

   The Irish Australian embassy on Dublin’s St Stephen Green makes history by being among the first Australian diplomatic outposts to permanently fly the Aboriginal flag. (Some Aboriginal people live in Ireland, and about 5% of Australia's Aboriginal people reported Irish ancestry in the 2016 Census.)

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