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60,000 BCE
Arrival
People spread from Asia into Australia for the first time, approximately 60,000 years ago. -
European invasion/settlement
Captain Cook 'discovers' Australia and declares it Terra Nullius (no one's land). -
Colonialism/settlement
1788 – 1890 Australia is a colony of Britain. Indigenous people are treated horrifically, resulting in the deaths of many. Indigenous lands are taken by force. -
Protection and segregation (1890s to the 1950s)
Indigenous survivors of frontier conflict were moved onto reserves or missions. From the end of the nineteenth century, various State and Territory laws were put in place to control relations between Aboriginal people and other Australians. It has been estimated that the Aboriginal population during the 1920s had fallen to only about 60,000 from perhaps 300,000 or even one million people in 1788. -
Integration (1960s and 1970s)
1967 saw the commonwealth referendum and Aboriginal peoples were granted the right of citizenship. The idea was they would then be 'integrated' into Australian society. -
Assimilation (1940s to the 1960s)
In 1937, the Commonwealth Government agreed that Aboriginal people ‘not of full blood’ should be absorbed or ‘assimilated’ into the wider population. The aim of assimilation was to make the ‘Aboriginal problem’ gradually disappear so that Aboriginal people would lose their identity in the wider community. A major feature of Assimilation was stepping up the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families and their placement in white institutions or homes. -
Self-determination and Self-management (1970s)
Self-determination
The Labor Government led by Gough Whitlam adopted the policy of ‘self-determination’ for Indigenous communities in 1972 (see: Vincent Lingari at Wave hill). It recognised that Aboriginal people had a right to be involved in decision making about their own lives. This was later watered down by the next government into a policy of 'Self-management'. -
Reconciliation (1991 to present
Reconciliation is about unity and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. It is about respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and valuing justice and equity for all Australians. The final recommendation of the 1991 Royal Commission into the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was a formal process of reconciliation between Indigenous and other Australians.