Timeline
This information was prepared by Tim Muirhead, CSD Network. Tim is a Perth-based facilitator and trainer who works extensively in the area of Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations.
- Before contact
- Early contact
- Colonisation
- The 1800s
- 1900 - World War II
- 1945 - 1967
- 1967 - 1990
- 1990 - 2000
- 2001 - today
Before contact
Indigenous peoples have occupied Australia for at least 60,000 years. There is evidence that Australia may have been inhabited for much longer.
While there was significant contact and trade between the diverse peoples who inhabited this continent, there was no contact, no exchange of culture or knowledge between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the world.
Aboriginal peoples are the oldest surviving culture in the world, having established ways of managing their land and society that were sustainable and ensured good health.
No one knows how many Indigenous peoples lived in Australia before 1788 - estimates vary between 500,000 and 1 million. By 1900 the numbers had dwindled to under 75,000 – at least 6 out of 7 Indigenous people were killed or died from introduced disease.
Click here for a more detailed timeline of events.
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Early contact
About 600 years ago, the outside world started to make contact with some Aboriginal skin-groups. People from what is now Indonesia established trade relations with people of the north. Later when European sailors made contact, some of it was positive for Aboriginal peoples including sharing technologies. Other aspects of this early contact had a negative impact, in particular the introduction of diseases.
In 1768 Captain Cook was issued with orders from the British Empire that if he discovered the great southern land he was to ‘with the consent of the natives, take possession of convenient situations in the name of the King ... or if (he was to) find the land uninhabited take possession for His Majesty’.
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Colonisation- the first 30 years
January 26th, 1788 marks the beginning of permanent European settlement of this land. The early years are devastating for the people who live around Sydney Cove. Killings, incarceration, forced removal from land, wars, disease, restriction of movement and early attempts at forced assimilation all occur in these early years. However, right from the beginning, some settlers believe there is a better way and work to develop respectful relationships with Aboriginal people.
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The 1800s
With the British presence in Australia established, settlement spread quickly across the continent. While in many areas, good relations existed between settlers and Aboriginal people, the century was devastating for the Indigenous peoples. In 1788 between 300,000 and 1 million Indigenous people populated the Australian continent. By 1990 this number had fallen to around 70,000. At least 3 out of 4 Indigenous people did not survive colonisation. Between 10,000 and 20,000 lost their lives in the battles to protect their country (along with around 2,000 settlers). Others died from introduced diseases and the loss of food and water supplies. Of those who survived, many were either incarcerated, forced into unpaid labour, and subject to other inhuman systems of control.
This was despite the fact that many explorers, farmers and pastoralists were dependent on Indigenous people for their survival and success. In 1835 John Batman tries to make a treaty with Aboriginal people for Port Phillip Bay by 'buying' 243,000 hectares with 20 pairs of blankets, 30 tomahawks, various and other articles and an annual tribute. But Governor Bourke does not recognise the treaty.
In 1836/37, a select committee of the British House of Commons says that Aborigines have a 'plain right and sacred right' to their land.
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1900 – World War II
By the early 1900s, armed resistance from Indigenous peoples wanes and poisonings and massacres decrease. Slowly, the population begins to increase.
In this period, legislation is introduced that describes the relationship as one of ‘protection’. The establishment of the NSW Aborigines Protection Board in 1883 becomes a model such laws are taken up in all States by 1911, giving governments total control over the lives of Indigenous people, dictating, where they could live and be employed. It also makes all children of Aboriginal peoples wards of the state, meaning they can be removed without permission.
Between the two World Wars policies become based on a belief that the Aboriginal race is weaker and will die out. It is determined that children with non-Indigenous ancestry, so called ‘half castes, should be taken from their families and raised in white institutions.
This approach leads to the forced removal of children – what is now known as the 'stolen generations' – and continues for 3 - 4 generations.
During this time, Aboriginal missions are established by a number churches, with mixed results. On 26 January 1938, the Aborigines Progressive Association declares a Day of Mourning and holds the first Aborigines Conference in Sydney.
In April 1925, the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed and holds the first of four highly successful conferences in Sydney. This mobilise support from a growing number of non-Indigenous organisations, including philanthropic, humanitarian and church groups.
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1945 to 1967
The common assumption, even from well-meaning non-Aboriginal people, that the Aboriginal race would die out was wrong. They survived and along with non-Indigenous supporters across the country, Indigenous people managed to consolidate their human rights efforts..
In 1948 the Commonwealth Citizenship and Nationality Act, for the first time, gave the category of Australian Citizenship to all Australians, including Aboriginal peoples.
In 1962, the Commonwealth Electoral Act was amended to give the vote to all Aboriginal people at a federal level.
In 1962 Vincent Lingiari led a walk-off from the cattle station at Wave Hill in the NT in protest of inadequate wages and conditions. The protest eventually led to the Commonwealth Land Rights Act of 1976
Click here for a more detailed timeline of events.
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1967 – 1990
After a decade long campaign by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people working side by side to move the nation forward, a referendum held in May 1967 is the most successful this nation has ever seen. More than 90 per cent of Australian voters say YES that Indigenous people should be counted in the national census of the population.
In 1972, the Whitlam Government establishes the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and commits to a policy of self-determination. Three years later, the Australian Senate unanimously endorses a resolution put up by Aboriginal Senator Neville Bonner acknowledging prior ownership of this country by Indigenous peoples. Federal Parliament also passes the Racial Discrimination Act.
In 1984, nine members of an extended family still living a semi nomadic life in the Gibson Desert are found and brought into communities.
In 1988, at the Barunga Festival, PM Bob Hawke is presented with two painting and text calling for Indigenous rights. This is known as the Barunga Statement - the Prime Minister responded by saying there will be a treaty within the life of the current parliament.
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1990 – 2000
In 1991, the Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was handed down recommending a formal process of reconciliation.
The work of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation during the ‘90s stimulated heightened awareness among non-Indigenous people. But the legacy of the past, which was exacerbated by continuing policy failure means that the lives of many Indigenous people continue to be marred by poor health, unemployment, imprisonment, homelessness, substance abuse and family violence.
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Prime Minister Paul Keating’s historical address at Redfern in 1992 was one of the most significant events in the reconciliation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The speech was given to a largely Aboriginal gathering at Sydney’s Redfern Park to commemorate the Year of the World’s Indigenous People. The speech was powerful and asked non- Indigenous Australians to think about how they would feel if the past injustices inflicted on Indigenous Australians had been inflicted upon them instead. Prime Minister Keating asked the people of Australia to feel compassion and empathy. Only months after the speech was given the Hight Court of Australia passed down the judgement in Mabo which recognised that Native Title did in fact exist and that Australia had not been terra nullius at the time of European settlement. Click here to listen to part of that speech:
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In 1993, the High Court overturned the notion of terra nullius (that the Australian land belonged to no one when Europeans arrived in 1788). As a result, the Federal Parliament passed the Native Title Act. In 1996, Aboriginal, pastoral and environmental groups on Cape York signed the a landmark agreement on land use.
In 1997, the Bringing Them Home Report was launched, demonstrating in stark detail the suffering of the stolen generations.
In 2000, more than a million Australians walked across bridges to show their support for reconciliation. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation wound up, presenting a set of recommendations to the Government.
Click here for a more detailed timeline of events.
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2001 – today
2001 – 2006
In 2001 Reconciliation Australia is set up as an independent, not-for-profit organisation to encourage and support the nation in taking the next steps in the reconciliation movement.
In 2001 the first Indigenous woman is elected to parliament in Western Australia. Indigenous peoples and culture are highly featured in the Centenary of Federation; and the Yeperenye Festival, just outside of Alice Springs, hosts the largest gathering of Indigenous people in Australian history.
In 2002 the Howard government calls for an inquiry into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).This was followed, in 2004, by the abolition of ATSIC; the ‘main-streaming’ of Indigenous services and the establishment of the National Indigenous Council.
In 2006 former Prime Minister John Howard and Professor Mick Dodson, of Reconciliation Australia, launch the Reconciliation Action Plan program.
2007
27 May 2007 - The 40th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum honoured surviving campaigners and raised the profile of reconciliation as an important issue in contemporary Australia. The anniversary celebrated the vision of equality which attracted a 90% yes vote by the people of Australia four decades earlier.
June 2007 - Prime Minister John Howard and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough announce a dramatic intervention into the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities in response to the findings of a report about sexual abuse.
Click here to download the Little children are Sacred report
August 2007 - 6 weeks after the announcement in response to what the Government deemed a 'national emergency', the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act was passed. This gave the Government power to:
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Acquire Aboriginal land and communities for up to 5 years
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Hold back 50% of all welfare payments, so as to control how money is being spent by Indigenous people and;
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Ban all alcohol
Pat Anderson, co-author of the Little Children are Sacred report, expressed a uniform view that the intervention was not supported and did not adhere to any of the recommendations laid out in the report;
“There is no relationship between the Federal response and our recommendations. We feel betrayed and disappointed and hurt and angry and pretty pissed off at the same time.�?
The long standing permit system, enacted as part of the 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) was scrapped.
2008
On 13 February 2008 the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made a formal apology to the Stolen Generations in the House of Representatives.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
To read the entire speech go to http://www.aph.gov.au/house/Rudd_Speech.pdf
Listen to some of Prime Minister Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations:
Click here for a more detailed timeline of events.
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Major Sources:
CALM ‘Sharing the Dreaming’ drawing on:
Department of Indigenous Affairs: Aboriginal Affairs in Western Australia 1929-2001;
Annual reports and statutes:
Notes prepared by Departmental representatives D. R. Hampton, Parks, Recreation, Planning & Tourism Division:
Simon Hancocks, Senior Policy Officer. Corporate Headquarters. and
K. Hayward, Cultural Awareness Facilitator, Indigenous Heritage Unit.
Museum of Australia Web-site
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation: Learning Circle Kit Timeline
Further information:
Anne Curthoys, Freedom Ride: A Freedom Rider Remembers
Overview
Written by one of the passengers, this book recounts the story of Australia's historic Freedom Ride--the 1965 bus journey of 29 Sydney University students to fight racism. First-person accounts from fellow riders illustrate the challenges along the ride, including confrontations, intense street debates, and physical violence. Included are interviews from local residents, both black and white, who met the bus and struggled with the consequences. Pages from the author's diary are included.
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