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Pacific Islander Labourers Act 1901
Made in the year of Federation, designed to "provide for the regulation, restriction, and prohibition of the introduction of labourers from the Pacific Islands..." (taken from the Act) -
Immigration Restriction Act 1901
The first act made by Australian Parliament, after Federation. -
Jack Johnson meets Maynard and Lacey
Jack Johnson met two Aboriginal wharf labourers -
Creation of AAPA
The Australian Aborigines Progressive Association was created in 1924, and was created through Maynard and Lacey (founding members) being members of the UNIA. -
Australian Aborigines League
Set up by Cummeragunga refugees. Founders of this organisation were well aware of the efforts made by the AAPA. -
Creation of APA- Aborigines Progressive Association
The APA was established as a follow up of the AAPA. -
1938 Day of Mourning
The AAL and the APA were responsible for the first internationally recognised Aboriginal protests- the 1938 Day of Mourning. It was the 150 year anniversary of British occupation of Australia. -
Aboriginal workers' strike in Darwin, and ASIO begin surveillance
In January, the workers strike was broken up by Darwin police. In this same year, ASIO began surveillance on prominent Aboriginal activists. -
Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (FCAA)
Created in 1958, was changed in the early 1960s to include Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). Pictured: the President, Joe McGinness of the council and the Secretary, Dulcie Flower. -
Freedom Ride
Charlie Perkins was the president of SAFA, and they strategised this protest with tactics seen in the African American Civil Rights Movement. -
1967 Referendum
This referendum didn't actually give Aboriginals the right to vote as popular opinion seems to think- this was legislated in 1962 for Commonwealth elections and the last state to provide it was Queensland in 1965. Referendum gave Aboriginals protection under the Australian Constitution and access to more public services, and made redundant section 127 which stated that Aboriginals were not to be counted in the Census. -
Australian Black Power Movement
Roosevelt Brown gave a press conference at the AAL, but Australian media distorted and rewrote the message he was sending about black empowerment. This gave rise to the Black Power Movement becoming a lot stronger and they began supporting the campaign for the Gurindji. -
Sprinbok tour protests
In 1971, there was a protest against racism in South Africa, and Paul Coe challenged the crowd and asked why there was such a turnout for this particular protest and why no-one seemed to care about the racism in their "own backyard." -
Prime Minister McMahon policy statement
After all the events and protests of the year before, Prime Minister McMahon made a speech about land rights for Aboriginals, and effectively said that they would never receive them. -
Aboriginal Tent Embassy
After McMahon's speech, four protesters went and set up tents on the lawns of Parliament House. Police arrived and informed them that there was actually nothing they could do- as they only had eleven tents and a campsite needed twelve to be deemed so and moved on. So, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy began. -
Gough Whitlam speech
The Tent Embassy stayed on the Parliament House lawn for 6 months, and Gough Whitlam gave a speech saying that if he was elected, he would give Aboriginals land rights. So again, Paul Coe challenged him and said that it wasn't the agenda of the ALP, so Whitlam actually went and changed that. So the Tent Embassy was successful in that they got land rights onto the national agenda. -
Northern Territory Land Rights Act
Gough Whitlam was elected, and drafted legislation to grant Aboriginals land rights, but it became apparent that the only state granting it was NT, because it was under Commonwealth jurisdiction, and the rest of the states had their own jurisdiction. So Whitlam drafted it, and in 1976 Malcom Fraser passed the Act. -
Mabo Case
The Mabo Case was an extremely important case in regard to native title.
