-
Cook Claims Australia
Captain James Cook claims Australia for the British, establishing the concept of Terra Nullius. -
First Fleet Landing
The First Fleet lands and the colonisation of Australia by the British begins. This is the beginning of the displacement of many Aboriginal people and the theft of their land. -
Yirrkala Bark Petition
Two bark petitions from the Yirrkala people are tabled in Parliament. They request that the government appoints a committee to investigate the complaints of the Yirrkala people about the excision of a part of Arnhem Land for bauxite mining. The committee was appointed, but the government later ignored its recommendations. -
Wave Hill walk-off begins
Vincent Lingiari leads a group of Gurindji stockmen and their families off the Wave Hill cattle station, demanding better working conditions and pay as well as the return of their land. -
Gove Land Rights Case begins
The Yolngu people challenge the Nabalco mining lease again, arguing in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory that the mining activity is illegal as it is taking place without their consent. -
Gove Land Rights Case ends
Justice Richard Blackburn uses the notion of Terra Nullius to justify a ruling that the mining leases are valid and the Yolngu people cannot establish their native title. -
Aboriginal Tent embassy begins
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is established on the lawns of parliament in response to the rejection of the Gove land rights case. -
Gurindji land returned
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam hands over native title to the Gurindji people by symbolically pouring a handful of sand through Vincent Lingiari's fingers. -
Aboriginal Land Rights Act
The Fraser government passes the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, which allows Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory to claim rights to land based on a traditional occupation of that land. -
The Mabo Case begins
Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray Islands bring an action against the state of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia, claiming native title on the basis that Murray Island and the surrounding islands have been continuously inhabited by the Meriam people. -
The Mabo Judgement
Six of the seven High Court judges uphold the claim of the Mabo Case, overturning the doctrine of Terra Nullius and granting native title to the Meriam people. -
Native Title Act
The Keating government passes the Native Title Act, which allows Indigenous people to claim land as native title, but only if they can prove a continuous connection to the land and there is no conflict with the rights of pastoralists, mining companies, federal government or private owners. -
Wik judgement
The Wik peoples win an appeal in a land claim case which establishes that the pastoral leases on their land do not necessarily extinguish native title. This is the first time a ruling of this nature has been made.
