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Federation
The Commonwealth Constitution states "in reckoning the numbers of people… Aboriginal natives shall not be counted".
Aboriginal people are excluded from the vote, pensions, employment in post offices, enlistment in armed forces and maternity allowance. -
The NSW Aborigines Protection Act is introduced
The Act also made it illegal for ‘half-castes’ to live on reserves. In 1915 and 1918 amendments to the Act give the NSW Aborigines Protection Board greater powers to remove children from their families for training as domestic servants. -
South Australian Aborigines Act
It makes 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. The Chief Protector is replaced by the Aborigines Protection Board in 1939 and guardianship power is repealed in 1962. -
Maternity Allowance
Roper River Aboriginal man Aya-I-Ga, known as Neighbour, is awarded the prestigious Albert Medal by King George V after he saved Constable W F Johns from drowning. It is the first time that a gallantry medal is awarded to an Aboriginal Australian -
Conniston Massacre in the Northern Territory
Europeans shoot 32 Aboriginal people after a European dingo trapper and a station owner are attacked by them. -
Western Australia Aborigines Act
It is amended to permit Aboriginal people to be taken into custody without trial or appeal and to prevent them from entering prescribed towns without a permit. -
Assimilation policy
Aboriginal Welfare - Conference of Commonwealth and State Authorities called by the federal government, decides 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. -
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 right to enrol and vote
Aboriginal people are given the right to enrol and vote at federal elections provided they are entitled to enrol for state elections or have served in the armed forces -
Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines is established
The title is changed in 1964 to Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. -
Integration policy is introduced
to give Aboriginal people more control over their lives and society. -
Aborigines Welfare Board in NSW is abolished
By 1969 all states have repealed the legislation allowing for the removal of Aboriginal children under the policy of ‘protection’. In the following years, Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agencies (AICCAs) are set up to contest removal applications and provide alternatives to the removal of Indigenous children from their families. -
Racial Discrimation Act
The Racial Discrimination Act is passed in Federal Parliament. The Australian Senate unanimously endorses a resolution put up by Senator Neville Bonner acknowledging prior ownership of this country and seeking compensation for their dispossesion. -
Mandawuy Yunupingu
Mandawuy Yunupingu, leader of the Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi, recieves the Australian of the Year. -
The Apology
The Australian Parliament apologises to the Stolen Generations. Both the government and the opposition support the apology and say 'sorry' to Aboriginal people who were taken from their families from 1900 to the 1970s. -
Sorry Day
One year after the Bringing Them Home report the first Sorry Day is marked by hundreds of activities around the country. The Australian federal government does not take part in 'Sorry Day', saying people wh removed Aboriginal children thought they were doing the right thing and people should not have to say sorry for what people did in the past, Over 1 million signatures in thousands of Sorry Books spea a different language.
