1770

1. 19 July Reconciliation

   The Guugu Yimithirr people and Captain James Cook clash over a dozen sea turtles that Cook's party caught for food near present-day Cooktown. Later, an Elder approaches Cook, offering a broken spear as a gesture of reconciliation and the two parties settle their dispute. The National Trust of Australia nominated the event as Australia's first documented act of reconciliation. Because the area where the two parties met is rocky it is now known as Reconciliation Rocks.
   

1871

1. 1 July

   The London Missionary Society arrives in the Torres Strait Islands and introduces Christianity to the Islanders. The first landing is at Darnley Island (Erub) on 1st July 1871, which is now celebrated annually with the ‘Coming of the Light’ celebrations.

1900

1. July Conflict

   Part-Aboriginal man Jimmy Governor goes on a rampage killing 10 people. He was captured and hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol, NSW, on 18 January 1901.

1934

1. 2 July Arts Stamps

   

   The 1934 stamp issue shows an Aboriginal man with spears walking towards a river that separates him from the town beyond, almost as if to show the contrast between pre and post invasion conditions. There were three denominations to the set.

1963

1. July Land & land rights

   The Yolngu people of Yirrkala in Australia’s Northern Territory (about 700 kms east of Darwin) sent a bark petition to the House of Representatives to protest against mining on the Gove Peninsula. On 28 August the petition is presented to the Governor General William De L’Isle. Although it is signed by more senior clan members, the federal government fails to recognise Aboriginal political structure and rejects the petition because of insufficient signatures.

1968

1. 5 July

   Geologist Jim Bowler discovers the remains of an Aboriginal woman in a dry lake bed of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage area in NSW. The remains are dated to be 40,000 years old and change the view of human history. They reveal a sophisticated culture and are the oldest evidence of homo sapiens outside Africa. The remains are later nicknamed "Mungo Lady".

1972

1. 14 July Protest

   On National Aborigines Day there are Australia wide strikes and marches by Aboriginal people.

1988

1. July Treaty

   The use of the term "treaty" ignites much public interest, and Mr Hawke remarks, "It's not the word that's important, its the attitudes of the peoples, attitudes of the non-Aboriginal Australians and of the Aboriginal Australians if there is a sense of reconciliation... whether you say there's a treaty or a compact is not important, but it is important that we do it."

1990

1. 16 July Self-determination

   Founding of the Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG) which sees Aboriginal people as a sovereign people and campaigns for Aboriginal self-determination and self-government, rejects assimilation into the Australian state, and maintains that Aboriginal people have the right to decide the future of their lands and lives to the exclusion of colonial interference.

1993

1. 1 July Arts Stamps

   

   A second set of stamps celebrates the International Year of Indigenous People with the designs for this issue based on four Aboriginal artists' work: Black Cockatoo Feather by Fiona Foley (45c), Ngarrgooroon Country by Hector Jandany (75c), Ngak Ngak by Ginger Riley Munduwalawala ($1) and Untiled by Robert Cole ($1.05).

1996

1. 29 July Sport

   Aboriginal sprinter, Cathy Freeman, wins a silver medal in the 400 metres run at the Atlanta Olympics, USA, and Nova Peris-Kneebone becomes the first Aboriginal person to win a gold medal for being part of the victorious Australian women’s hockey team.

2001

1. July Stolen Generations

   The British Concise Oxford Dictionary includes the phrase 'stolen generation' in its latest edition. The term is defined as: "Noun. Australian. The aboriginal people forcibly removed from their families as children between the 1900s and the 1960s, to be brought up by white foster families or in institutions."

2002

1. 1 July Politics

   Australia joins the International Criminal Court which means that genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are now offences under Australian law. Before that they were not.

   Believe it or not, [before 2002] genocide was not an offence under Australian criminal law.

   — Julian Burnside, Melbourne lawyer ^[1]

2. 2 July Arts Stamps

   Australia Post celebrates a centenary since the birth of Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira on 28 July, 1902. He was the first Aboriginal artist to exhibit his work professionally and paint in a Western style.

   

2007

1. 1 July Politics

   The Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act comes into effect, aiming to strengthen governance and management of Aboriginal corporations with consistent practices and standards.

2. 13 July Arts

   National Indigenous Television (NITV), Australia’s first national 24-hour Aboriginal television service, starts.

3. 13 July Self-determination

   National Indigenous TV launches during NAIDOC Week on Black Friday, marking the beginning of a new era for Aboriginal television.

4. 24 July Arts

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

2008

1. July Remains repatriation

   Edinburgh University, Scotland. Return of the last remains in its collection to members of the Ngarrindjeri people (SA).

2. 3 July Health

   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.

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References