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The start of Aboriginal rights movement
A large group of Aboriginal people gathered in Sydney at a protest they called the Day of Mourning, which marked 150 years since European settlement. The protest was the beginning of the organised Aboriginal civil rights movement. -
aboriginal people gained the right to vote
In 1962, Indigenous people gain the right to vote in federal elections.
By the end of 1965, Indigenous people around the country gain the same voting rights as other Australians -
Referendum for Indigenous rights
More than 90 per cent of Australian voters choose yes to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the census and for Indigenous people to be subject to Commonwealth laws, rather than just state laws. -
Aboriginal Lands Trust
An Aboriginal Lands Trust was created in Western Australia. The Trust was given control over reserves and other land set aside for Aboriginal people. -
The Aboriginal Land Rights Commission’s Second Report
The second Report argued for the introduction of land rights legislation to ensure simple restorative justice because the land was taken without consent or compensation. The report also argued ‘to deny Aborigines the right to prevent mining on their land was to deny the reality of their Land Rights’. -
Aboriginal land rights bill
The Commonwealth Labor Government introduced the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Bill 1986. -
Australia day protest
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders converging on Sydney for an Australia Day protest and survival celebrations on the bicentenary of white settlement. -
Community Living Areas
In 1989 the government made a unilateral "Memorandum of Agreement" that it would hand back some areas of stock routes and reserves, amend the Land Rights Act to stop any more stock route land claims, and make a law for people to be able to apply for Community Living Area. -
Commission bill
Minister Hand introduced the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Bill into the Parliament. Over 90 amendments were made to the bill before it was eventually passed in 1989. -
Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill
To amend the Aboriginal Land Rights, act 1976 to dispose of certain Aboriginal land claims over stock routes and stock reserves.
