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Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay
Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay and declared Australia 'terra nullius' meaning 'empty land'. He claimed this new land for the Crown (King Geor -
The Arrival of the First Fleet
THe arrival of the First Fleet brouhgt an end to the Aboriginal peace and the beginning of land loss, disease and destruction of the traditional Aboriginal way of life. The concept of 'terra nullius' or 'empty land' confirmed by whites and labelled 'The Big Lie' by Aborigines. -
Yirrkala Bark Petition
These were the first documents bridging the Commonwealth law as it then stood, and the Indigenous laws of the land. These petitions from the Yolngu people of Yirrkala were the first traditional documents recognised by the Commonwealth Parliament and therefore the documentry recognition of Indigenous people in Australia law. These petitions are the first to use traditional forms and combine bark painting with text typed on paper. -
Freedom Ride
A group of University of Sydney students organised a bus tour of western and costal New South Wales towns. Their purpose was threefold. The students planned to draw public attention to the poor state of Aboriginal health, education and housing. They hoped to point out and help to lessen the socially discrimination barriers which existed between Aboriginal and white residents. And they also wished to encourage and support Aboriginal peopl themselves and resist discrimination. -
Gurindji Walk Off
Aboriginal pastoral workers walked off the job on the vast Vesteys' cattle station at Wave Hill in the Northern Territory. At first they expressed their unhappiness with their poor working conditions and disrespectful treatment. -
The Referendum
The Referendum finally allowed for Aboriginies to be included in the Australian census as people rather than flora and fauna -
Federation
By the time of Federation, there was still recognition for Aboriginals. In fact, the Aboriginies were not counted as citizens in the census but as flora and fauna -
'Aboriginal Embassy'
Four young Aboriginal men erected a beach umbrella on the lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra abd put up a sign which read 'Aboriginal Embassy'. Over the following months, supporters of the embassy swelled to 2000. Their embassy was a tent-a well understood image of poverty and impermanence. Their camp attracted unprecedented support from people across the country that recognised their sense if greivance and made their views known to the government. -
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The Mabo Case
Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait took action in the High Court of Australia seeking confirmation of their traditional land rights. The case was heard over ten years through both the High Court and the Queensland Supreme Court. The High Court upheld the claim and ruled that the kands of this continent were not terra nullius when European settlement occured, and that they were entitled to their lands of the Murray Islands -
The Native Title Act
The Native Title Act law which recognized Aboriginal rights to claim vacant crown/government land. -
Second Dispossession
Aborigines were able to gain some land but this was later reduced by half with Aborigines forcefully taken off the lands by police. The stripping away of these lands is recognised as the Second Dispossession, and resulted from settlements by invasion. Many Aboriginal farms were handed over to returning World War I veterans, and yet, incredibly, Aboriginal returning soldiers were informed that the soldier setttlement scheme did not apply to them.