1979

1. Cyril Kennedy (Australian Labor Party) is the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the electorate of Waverley.

1982

1. Victorian Premier John Cain announces legislation is to be passed recognising the Aboriginal ownership of the Framlingham Forest near Warrnambool.

1983

1. 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).

1997

1. The state governments of Australia formally apologise to the Aboriginal people ^[1]:

   • 27 May 1997: Western Australia (Richard Court, Premier; Geoff Gallop, Leader of the Opposition)
   • 28 May 1997: South Australia (Dean Brown, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs)
   • 3 June 1997: Queensland (K.R.Lingard, Minister for Families, Youth and Community Care)
   • 17 June 1997: Australian Capital Territory (Kate Carnell, Chief Minister)
   • 18 June 1997: New South Wales (Bob Carr, Premier)
   • 13 August 1997: Tasmania (Tony Rundle, Premier)
   • 17 September 1997: Victoria (Jeff Kennett, Premier)
   • 24 October 2001: Northern Territory (Claire Martin, Premier)

   On a national level, prime minister John Howard refuses to apologise to the Stolen Generations for another ten years. He is forced out of office in the federal election in 2007, never having apologised.
   

   They can't give me back my mother, my lost childhood... but when Bob Carr gave his apology it was a removal of all my mother's guilt, the secret she bore alone... the apology set her free.

   — Aunty Nancy de Vries, taken at 14 months ^[2]

2001

1. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission & PIAC (Public Interest Advocacy Centre) hold the Moving Forward Conference. The conference aims to explore ways of providing reparations to Indigenous people forcibly removed from their families.
   

   For 18 years the State of Victoria referred to me as State Ward No 54321.

   — Paul, personal story in the Bringing Them Home Report

2002

1. As part of the Victorian Government's response to the Bringing Them Home Report, Victoria establishes a Stolen Generations taskforce.

2003

1. 10 September Remains repatriation

   The Museum Victoria returns the remains of an Aboriginal baby girl nicknamed 'Jaara Baby' to her modern-day relatives, the Dja Dja Wurrung people of north-west Victoria, 99 years to the day after they were found in a tree trunk by a woodcutter.

2005

1. 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 Generation peoples to reconnect with their family, community, culture and land.

2006

1. Ben Wyatt (Australian Labor Party) is elected in a by-election to the Western Australian parliament for the electorate of Victoria Park. He is re-elected in 2008.

2. 31 May Conflict

   Victoria is the first state to formally recognise the sacrifice and service of Aboriginal servicemen during the inaugural Honouring Victorian Indigenous Returned Service Men and Women Shrine of Rememberance Service. The service is held each year since.

2007

1. December Stolen wages

   The  Victorian government appoints an officer to sift through almost 100 years of records in state and Commonwealth archives to determine whether Victorian Aboriginal people are owed wages.

   For each of my 'employment' placements, I was not asked if I wanted to accept the employment offer; nor did I know the terms and conditions of my employment (including rate of pay and hours of work).

   — Lesley Williams ^[3]

2009

1. June Remains repatriation

   The University College, London, UK, hands over the skulls of three individuals from Victoria's Gunditjmara community and another from the Dja Dja Wurrung nation ^[4]. It is the first repatriation to Victoria.

2010

1. 8 September Recognition

   NSW becomes the third Australian state, after Victoria and Queensland, to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their Constitutional preambles. The Aboriginal flag is also permanently hung in the NSW Parliament.

   We are enshrining today fundamental truths, the truth that Aboriginal people are the first peoples of NSW, the truth of the spiritual, economic and cultural ties that bind Aboriginal people to the land.

   — Kristina Keneally, Premier of NSW ^[5]

2011

1. January Land & land rights

   Australia experiences its worst flooding on record affecting Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. The floods claim the life of at least one Aboriginal person, delay land claim hearings and put further pressure on people on housing waiting lists. Many don’t accept help or play down their loss. Aboriginal musician Troy Cassar-Daley loses his farm near Brisbane.

   Golden Guitars are pretty sturdy, like the artists that get them.

   — Troy Cassar-Daley, commenting about the Golden Guitars he won which were muddied by the floods ^[6]

2013

1. 23 July Politics

   The Victorian Government appoints Aboriginal man Andrew Jackomos as Victoria’s - and Australia’s - first Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Youth. The appointment of an Aboriginal children’s commissioner was one of the recommendations arising out of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry.

2014

1. 28 April Arts

   Jack Charles becomes the first Aboriginal person to win a lifetime achievement award at the Victorian Green Room Awards for the show Jack Charles v the Crown.

2015

1. June Remains repatriation

   Museum Victoria returns the skull of Jim Crow, believed to have been a member of the Wonnarua people of the Hunter Valley. The skull was stolen from his grave in the early 1860s and later stored on Museum Victoria shelves for 126 years. ^[7]

2016

1. From 26–27 May the first forums with the Victorian government discuss treaty with more than 400 participants.

2. 3 February Treaty

   A meeting of 500 Aboriginal leaders in Victoria rejects constitutional recognition and passes a motion demanding that the state “resources a treaty process, including a framework for treaties, with complete collaboration with all Sovereign Peoples and Nations”. ^[8]

3. 26 February Treaty

   The Victorian government commits to begin talks to work out Australia's first treaty with Aboriginal people.^[9] The treaty aims for

   • Recognition of past injustices
   • Recognition of all 39 First Nations and their clans authority
   • Recognition of and respect for country, traditions and customs
   • A futures fund to implement and establish the treaty
   • Establishment of a democratic treaty commission
   • Land rights and land acquisition legislation and funding
   • Fresh water and sea water rights

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References