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Federation of Australia
The Australian Constitution comes into effect, establishing the Commonwealth of Australia. Deems that "Aboriginal natives shall not be counted". -
The Western Australia Aborigines Act is passed
The Chief Protector is made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 16 years old. Reserves are established, a local protector is appointed and rules governing Aboriginal employment are laid down. -
The South Australian Aborigines Act
The Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 21 years old. The Chief Protector also has control of where the child lives. -
Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance
The Chief Protector is made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 18 years old. Any Aboriginal person can be forced onto a mission or settlement, and children can be removed from their parents by force. -
Beginning of WWI
400 to 500 Aboriginal children continue to be removed from their families during the period 1914 to 1918, including children whose fathers are overseas at war. -
NSW Removal of Aboriginal Children
The NSW Aborigines Protection Board is given power to remove Aboriginal children without a court hearing. -
The Northern Territory Aboriginal Ordinance Act
The Northern Territory Aboriginal Ordinance Act "ensured that Aboriginal people could not drink or possess or supply alcohol, could not come within two chains of licensed premises, have firearms, marry non-Aboriginal people without permission or have sex across the colour line".
The Ordinance also forbids mining on Aboriginal Reserve Land. -
Low Aboriginal Population
Aboriginal population is estimated to be at its lowest at 60,000 - 70,000. It is widely believed to be a ‘dying race’. Most Australians have had no contact with Aboriginal people due to segregation. -
Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed
Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed in Sydney to oppose New South Wales Aborigines Protection Board. Its inaugural president is Fred Maynard. -
Conniston Massacre
Conniston Massacre in the Northern Territory. Europeans shoot 32 Aboriginal people after a European dingo trapper and a station owner are attacked by them.
A court of inquiry rules the Europeans’ action ‘justified’. Aboriginal people are refused legal aid by the federal government. -
Western Australia Aborigines Act is amended
Western Australia Aborigines Act is amended to permit Aboriginal people to be taken into custody without trial or appeal and to prevent them from entering certain towns without a permit. -
Assimilation policy
Aboriginal Welfare Conference is called by the federal government, deciding that the official policy for some Aboriginal people is assimilation policy. Aboriginal people of mixed descent are to be assimilated into white society whether they want to be or not, those not living tribally are to be educated and all others are to stay on reserves. -
Australia Day Protests
150 years after European occupation the Aboriginal Progressive Association declares a Day of Mourning. An Aboriginal conference is held in Sydney. These are the first of many Aboriginal protests against inequality, injustice, dispossession of land and protectionist policies. -
Cummeragunja Walk-off
Over 150 Aboriginal people pack-up and leave Cummeragunja Aboriginal Station in protest at the cruel treatment and exploitation of residents by the management. They walk 66kms and cross the border from New South Wales into Victoria in neglect of the rules of the New South Wales Protection Board -
NSW Aborigines Welfare Board
Amendments to the NSW Aborigines protection legislation results in the replacement of the Aborigines Protection Board with the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board. Responsibility for Aboriginal education is transferred to the Department for Education, which takes control of reserve buildings and starts to provide trained teachers. ‘Aboriginal’ schools provide education beyond Grade 3. -
Exemption Certificate is introduced
An Exemption Certificate is introduced, exempting certain Aboriginal people from restrictive legislation and entitling them to vote, drink alcohol and move freely but prohibiting them from consorting with others who are not exempt. Their children are allowed to be admitted to ordinary public schools. They practically live as a white person. -
Pilbara Strike
Hundreds of Aboriginal pastoral workers left their work for better pay and conditions in May 1946, paralysing sheep stations.
The strike was organised with no phones or radios and lasted until 1949, the longest strike in Australia’s history. -
Commonwealth Citizenship and Nationality Act
The Commonwealth Citizenship and Nationality Act for the first time makes all Australians, including all Aboriginal people, Australian citizens. But at state level they still suffer legal discrimination. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is adopted by the newly-formed United Nations and supported by Australia. -
Ethnic cleansing of the Australian Capital Territory
Queen Elizabeth visits Australia for the first time and in Canberra signs the Aborigines Welfare Ordinance 1954 that permits the ethnic cleansing of the Australian Capital Territory, clearing it of resident Aboriginal people. -
Integration policy
Integration policy is introduced, supposedly to give Aboriginal people more control over their lives and society. The policy meant that Indigenous people would be
able to openly celebrate their cultural differences. The Commonwealth Government did little towards implementing it. -
Charles Perkins leads a freedom ride
Charles Perkins leads a freedom ride of Aboriginals and students through north-western New South Wales in support of Aboriginal rights. -
The South Australian Prohibition of Discrimination Act
The South Australian Prohibition of Discrimination Act is the first of its kind in Australia and bans all types of race and colour discrimination in employment, accommodation, legal contracts and public facilities. -
Walk-off at Wave Hill (Gurindji strike)
Stockmen and women walk off Wave Hill cattle station owned by British aristocrat Lord Vestey, about 700 kms south of Darwin in the Northern Territory, in protest against intolerable working conditions and inadequate wages. They establish a camp at Watti Creek and demand the return of some of their traditional lands. This begins a seven-year fight by the Gurindji people to obtain title to their land. -
Commonwealth Refferendum
More than 90% of Australians vote to empower the Commonwealth to legislate for all Aboriginal people and open means for them to be counted in the census. It also empowers the federal government to legislate for Aboriginal people and share responsibility for Aboriginal affairs with state governments. All states except Queensland abandon laws and policies that discriminate against Aboriginal people. -
Mabo Decision
The Mabo Case was a significant legal case that recognised the land rights of the Meriam people, traditional owners of the Murray Islands. The High Court decision in the Mabo v. Queensland altered the foundation of land law in Australia and the following year the Native Title Act 1993, was passed through the Australian Parliament. This opened the way for claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to their traditional rights to land and compensation. -
Native Title Act
The Native Title Act was a law passed by the Australian Parliament the purpose of which is "to provide a national system for the recognition and protection of native title and for its co-existence with the national land management system". -
Wik Decision
The Wik decision was a case against the Queensland government on behalf of the Wik people. As a result, native title rights could co-exist depending on the terms and nature of the particular pastoral lease. Where there was a conflict of rights, the rights under the pastoral lease would extinguish the remaining native title rights.
