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1770- Arrival to Australia
- Lieutenant James Cook raises the British Flag and claims the whole East Coast of Australia.
- Lieutenant Cook claimed that Australia was Terra Nullius.
- Aboriginals population was estimated to be 750,000
- Indigenous Australians had not rights to the land at all as they weren't acknowledged by the British.
- Aboriginals resisted the British but were punished
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1804- Tasmania .
Tasmania settlers are authorised to shoot Indigenous Australians -
1834- Pinjara Massacre .
Governor Stirling leads 25 armed police to Indigenous Australians. Records say that 14 people died. Pinjara suggests that a whole tribe was wiped out. -
1843- Indigenous evidence
Governor Gipps unsuccessfully tries to bring in legislation that would allow indigenous Australians to produce evidence in Court -
1901- Constitution
- Indigenous Australians were denied rights of the Commonwealth Constitution
- The constitution only mentions Aboriginals to exclude them form the census and from lawmaking/ voting.
- It wasn't until the 1967 Referendum Act where Aboriginals were included
- Aboriginals did not get benefits
- The constitution also stopped Aboriginals from being classed as 'people of Australia'
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1915- Removing Children
- Aborigines protection board is given power to remove Indigenous children from their families without a court haring or parental consent.
- It is estimated between the early 1900's and the late 1960's that 1 million children were effected
- Many children effected lost ties with their families and cultural heritage.
- The children were sent to boys and girls homes, churches and institutions where they were only given a number.
- They were taught under white law and rules.
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1938- Day of Mourning
To mark the 150th anniversary of NSW colonisation, Jack Patten, Jack Ferguson, William Cooper and Aboriginals supporters held a protest to allow them to gain citizenship rights. They sent there list of demands to the Government and were unsuccessful. -
1940- Aborigines Welfare Board
Aborigines Welfare Board replaces the Aborigines Protection Board. They try to make taking children from families more difficult however, taking children still occurred late in the 1960 -
1951- Assimilation
Canberra officially adopts the policy of assimilation meaning that eventually all Aboriginal or mixed blood will live as white Australians do. -
1966- Wave Hill Walk Off
- The 200 Gurindji people that worked on the Wave Hill Station walked off due to unfair treatment and pay.
- The Gurindji people then protested for their land rights.
- The walk off lasted 9 years
- The outcome of the walk off was that the Gurindji people were given back their land by Prime Minister Whitlam in a special ceremony. Prime Minister Whitlam passed the dirt of the land through Vincent Lingari hand- symbolises the acknowledgement of the land.
- This protest inspired the Mabo case
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1973- Population
5th of April- figures showed that the Aboriginal population was 116,000 (however, these figures are not always accurate) -
1992- Redfern Speech
Prime Minister Keating's speech at Redfern Park acknowledged the wrongs done in the past to Aboriginals and his Speech is one of the most memorable/ important speeches in World History