-
1966, Wave Hill Walk-off
200 Aboriginal stockmen and their families walked off the Wave Hill Cattle Station, striking for better working and pay conditions and demanding the return of their land. -
1967 Referendum
There was a referendum held in Australia. 91% of Australians voted yes to count Indigenous Australians in the census and to give the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws for them. -
1972, Tent Embassy
The Tent Embassy protest was against the rejection of land rights by the Supreme Court against the Yolngu people. Aboriginal activists established the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of parliament house on Australia Day 1972. -
1975, Goth Whitlam giving back the land
Goth Whitlam poured soil into the hands of an aboriginal elder named Vincent Lingiari to mark the return of the Wave Hill cattle station to the Gurindji people. -
1976, Aboriginal Land Rights Act in the northern territory
The Aboriginal Land Rights in the northern territory was the first attempt by an Australian government to legally recognize the Aboriginal system of land ownership and put into place a form of aboriginal land ownership. -
1982, The Mabo case
Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait began action in the High Court. -
1985, Uluru hand back
Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen handed over the title deeds of Uluru to Anangu traditional owners. Anangu then signed an agreement leasing the land back to the Australian Parks and Wildlife Service in 99 years. -
1990, ATSIC established.
The ATSIC stands for The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, it was an Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were able to be involved in the processes of government policies that could affect their lives. Unfortunately, it was abolished in 2005. -
1992, Mabo case result
Ten years later, the High Court of Australia decided in favor of Eddie Mabo and his fellow land rights activists. The judgments of the High Court inserted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law. giving the land back to the Torre Strait Islander people. -
1996, The High Court ruling
The Court decided that in this case native title and the pastoralist lease could co-exist alongside each other. the Native Title Act of 1993 states that leases on Crown land had automatically extinguished native title, but the Wik decision created an exception to this.
