-
The immigration restriction act was passed after Australia federated. This had negative consequences for the aboriginals as they were looked down upon
-
the aboriginals begin to fight for human rights
-
people from other countries began sending critism to the australian government at how they were treating aboriginals -
a group of existing state bodies united to form the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement -
By the mid 1960’s, Indigenous opposition to assimilation was strengthening and an Indigenous civil rights movement was growing under the banner of self-determination. -
students at the University of Sydney formed Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA), a group led by Charles Perkins, a third year student -
SAFA organised the ‘Freedom Ride’, a bus tour of western and coastal New South Wales towns which is made to: -raise public awareness about the poor state of Aboriginal health, -education and housing
-expose the socially discriminatory barriers that existed between -Aboriginal and white residents
-encourage and support Indigenous people to resist discrimination -
after ten years of campaigning, the Australian government held a referendum to change the Australian Constitution; amending two parts that excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 90% of the Australian population voted in favour of these changes, indicating a positive shift in mainstream attitudes towards First Nations people. The 1967 Referendum has come to symbolise the broader struggle for Indigenous social justice fought over these decades. [3] -
The whitlam government abolished the white australian policy and introduced the self determination policy giving the rights to aboriginals to obtain their own heritage, land, and culture -
the House Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs tabled a report that was highly critical of the way that self-determination policies had been implemented in Indigenous communities. -
it allowed aboriginals to make claims to land that was not owned privately and had to be under certain conditions -
Self-determination remained government policy until the election of the Howard government in 1996. -
The Declaration affirms the ‘minimum standards for the
survival, dignity and well-being’ of Indigenous peoples. -
The australian parliment says sorry to the stolen generations