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Aboriginal's gain rights
After WW2 white attitudes towards the first Australians began to change. During the 1950s the Indigenous Australians were allowed to :
- enrol for voting
- drink in hotels
- travel without restrictions By the early 1960s Aboriginal adults received pensions and maternity benefits. -
Freedom Riders demand equal treatment
A group led by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins made a bus tour through New South Wales. They protested about discrimination in shops, theatres, bars, clubs and swimming pools. -
Guriindji 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 land back. The Gurindji eventually gained ownership of the area in 1985. -
White voters demand a better deal for first Australians
After a 90% ‘yes’ vote the government gave Indigenous Australians the right to vote and be counted in censuses and ended the protection policies -
Aboriginal tent embassy set up in Canberra
The Embassy said that blacks were now going to get up and fight back on the issues of education, health, police victimisation, locking people up. Bobby Sykes, Aboriginal activist -
Land rights to be granted to first Australians
A government commission recommended that Aboriginals should get back the land where they now levied and had traditionally lived. -
First Aboriginal Land rights act
However, this Northern Territory law only gave Indigenous people some areas of arid and largely useless land. Other land claims were often thrown out by the courts. -
Eddie Mabo ends terra nullius
In the late 18th century Britain claimed the lands of Australia because they assumed nobody owned them. Some Torres Strait Islanders, led by Edie Mabo challenged this. Their people inhabited Murray Island for thousands of years and so were the rightful owners. In 1992 the High Court agreed that saying the term 'terra nullius' was wrong and racist. So the 1993 Native Title Act allowed Indigenous Australians to claim land. -
Cathy Freeman carries the Indigenous flag at the Commonwealth Games
Cathy Freeman carries the Australian and Indigenous Australian flags at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. On the Indigenous flag, the black stands for the people, the yellow for the sun and the red for the land. -
Protests against Prime Minister
In May 2000, 250 000 people walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge and up to 400 00 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 wrongs. -
Aboriginals face a culture trap
In the early 21st century the Indigenous Australians are caught in a culture trap. They are at various stages between their proud past and modern Australian life. Although Indigenous Australians now own some land, it is mostly desert and economically useless. The Aboriginal population is now growing rapidly and the governments need to help people adapt to modern life. -
Aden Ridgeway is the first Aboriginal to be a parliament leader
Aden Ridgeway is the first Aboriginal person to be elected as a parliamentary leader when he holds the position of Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats from 2001 to 2002 -
Protesters support BLM and the Indigenous Australians
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, protesters swarmed the streets in Australia supporting BLM. Although the rallies were sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many in Australia were also protesting against the treatment of its indigenous population by police. Protesters chanted: "Always was, always will be Aboriginal land" and "Too many coppers not enough justice".
