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Assimilation Policy of 1937
In 1937, the Commonwealth Government held a national conference on Aboriginal affairs which agreed that Aboriginal people ‘not of full blood’ should be absorbed or ‘assimilated’ into the wider population. -
Australian Aborigine's Progressive Association formed
The Australian Aborigines Progessive Assosciation was responsible for organising the Day of Mourning protest on Australia Day in 1938. The APA had three aims: full citizenship rights for Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal representation in Parliament and abolition of the New South Wales Aborigines' Protection Board. -
Day of mourning
The Day of Mourning was a day of protest held by Aboriginal Australians on 26 January 1938, the result of British colonisation of Australia. -
Resistance to European invasion
The 1946 Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for human rights recognition and payment of fair wages and working conditions. -
Aboriginal People given the rights to vote
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Freedom Ride
In February 1965 a group of University of Sydney students organised a bus tour of western and coastal New South Wales towns. Their purpose was threefold. The students planned to draw public attention to the poor state of Aboriginal health, education and housing. They hoped to point out and help to lessen the socially discriminatory barriers which existed between Aboriginal and white residents. -
1967 Referendum
The referendum of 27 May 1967, called by the Holt Government, approved two amendments to the Australian constitution relating to Indigenous Australians. -
Tent Embassy Established
On 26 January 1972, four Aboriginal men (Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey and Bertie Williams) arrived in Canberra from Sydney to establish the Aboriginal Embassy by planting a beach umbrella on the lawn in front of Parliament House -
Uluru handed back to traditional owners
The Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976 (ALR Act) was the direct result of an inquiry led by Justice Woodward, established by the Whitlam government. -
Aboriginal people are excluded from the Census
The changes to the Constitution meant that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be counted in the Census. In the 1966 Census, an attempt had been made to achieve as full a coverage as possible. However, following the 1967 Referendum, a more concerted effort could be made within the new legal framework, starting from the 1971 Census. From 1986, these efforts have been organised through the Census Indigenous Enumeration Strategy -
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
On 10 August 1987 Prime Minister Hawke announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of deaths of Aboriginal people while held in State and Territory gaols. The Royal Commission was established in response to a growing public concern that deaths in custody of Aboriginal people were too common and poorly explained. -
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
Prime Minister Hawke announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of deaths of Aboriginal people while held in State and Territory gaols. The Royal Commission was established in response to a growing public concern that deaths in custody of Aboriginal people were too common and poorly explained. -
Bicentenary protest march
The march proceeded through the streets of Sydney to mourn the injustice of the past. Described by many as the biggest march ever of Aboriginal people, it took place on the country where it all first began over 200 years before hand. -
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 passed
The RDA makes racial discrimination unlawful in Australia and overrides inconsistent States and Territory legislation, -
Australian Aborigine's Progressive Association formed