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Australia’s sesquicentenary
1938 Australia’s sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) celebrated around Australia. Aboriginal leaders in Melbourne and Sydney hold ‘Day of Mourning’ events and call for citizenship rights. -
UDHR
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by United Nations -
American freedom riders
1961 American Freedom Riders travel on racially mixed buses in the southern United States
to challenge segregation laws. -
Martin Luther speech
1963 Martin Luther King Jnr delivers his ‘I have a dream’ speech during the March on Washington -
Australia's freedom riders
1965 Australia’s Freedom Riders discover segregation being practised in country NSW during a ‘fact finding’ tour -
Referendum change
1967 Overwhelming support for referendum to change the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aborigines and to include them in the census -
Aboriginal Tent Embassy
1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy established on the lawns of Parliament House in response to the McMahon Government’s refusal to accept native title -
Whirl am returns to Gurindji people
1975 The Whitlam Government returns 3300 square kilometres of land to the Gurindji people – a beginning to land rights for Aboriginal people in Australia -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
1990 The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) formally established as the key representative body responsible for the implementation of self-determination policies -
Bringing Them Home report
1997 The Bringing Them Home report is tabled in Parliament. The report includes thousands of testimonies from members of the Stolen Generations. -
Abolished ATSIC
2004 The Howard Government abolishes ATSIC -
National Emergency Response
2007 The National Emergency Response in the Northern Territory, known as ‘the Intervention’, begins -
Stolen Generation apology
2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issues a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.
