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Stealing people: the lost generation
Working in the homes of whites, the girls were often little better than slaves, while the men on farms recieved basic rations and and a little cash. This policy had started in the 1910s and lasted until the late 1960s -
Aborigines claimed citizen rights
On Australia Day 1938 a meeting was held in Sydney. A document called 'Aborigines Claim Citizen Right' was circulated. This declaration was the first time Aboriginal people had made a national protest. It was widely reported in the papers and many white Australians now started to take a notice of their plight. -
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More visible during the war
Many white Australians felt that if Aboriginals could fight and die for their country they deserved a fair go. -
Freedom riders demand equal treatment
A group led by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins made a bus through NSW. They protested about discrimination in shops, theatres, bars, clubs and swimming pools -
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Gurindji people demand a better deal
200 workers walked off the Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory. They wanted better wages and conditions, and their traditional lands back. The Gurindji eventually gained ownership of the area in 1985. -
Land rights to be granted to first australians
A government commission recommended that Aboriginals should get back the land where they now lived and had traditionally lived. -
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'Bringing them home'
The stolen generation didn't feature in the history books until the 1980s. In 1997 the Human Rights Commission report on this horror story made a number of recommendations. -
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Eddie Mabo ends terra nullius
In 1992 the High Court agreed saying that terra nullius is wrong and racist. So the 1993 Native Title act allowed Indigenous Australians to claim land rights. -
The marches across the bridges
In May 2000 250,000 people walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge and up to 400,000 marched in melbourne in december. Many marchers carried signs and banners critical of the prime minister's refusal to say 'Sorry' to indigenous Australians for past wrong -
Hope for the future?
Indigenous Australian leaders are gaining greater respect and the marches in 2000 showed that Australians of all races want the first people to get a better deal. Some are national heroes and there was great pride when Cathy Freeman lit the torch at the Sydney Olympics and won the 400 metres. -
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra celebrates its 40th anniversary. An incident where the Prime Minister was disturbed by around 50 protesters outside a restaurant makes security guards drag her hurriedly into a car. -
The senator from Victoria
Lidia Thorpe, a Djab-Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman and an independent senator from Victoria, heckles King Charles, who is on a five-day visit to Australia with Queen Camilla. She approaches the stage at Parliament House yelling “This is not your country! You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people! You destroyed our lands.