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Captain James Cook Claims Possession
Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay and declared Australia 'Terra Nullius' meaning 'empty land'. He claimed this new land for the crown (King George 11) -
The First Fleet Arrived
The arrival of the First Fleet brought and end to Aboriginal peace and the beginninig of landloss,disease and destruction of the traditional Aboriginal way of life.the concept of 'terra nullius" or 'empty land' confirmed by whites and labelled 'the Big Lie' by Aboriginies. -
Second Dispossession
Aboriginies were able to gain some land but this was later reduced by half with Aboriginies forcefully taken off the lands by police. -
The Federation
By the time of the federation, there was still little recongniton for Aboriginals.In fact, the Aborigines were not counted as citizens in the census but as flaura and fauna. -
Yirrkala Bark Petition
these were the first documents bridging Commonwealth law as it stood, and the Indigenous laws of the land. -
The Referendum
The Referendum finally allowed Aboriginies to be included in the Australian census as people rather than flora and fauna -
Aboriginal Embassy
Four young Aboriginal men erected a beach umbrella on the lawns outside Parliament House In Canberra and put up a sign which read ' Aboriginal Embassy' -
Period: to
The Mabo Case
Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait took action in the High Court of Australia seeking confirmation of their traditional rights. -
The Native Title Act
a law which recongnizrd Aboriginal rights to claim vacant crown/government land