Key dates indigenous history
1770 | April 29 Captain James Cook in the Endeavour enters Botany Bay. |
1788 | 18 January Captain Arthur Phillip enters Botany Bay. |
1790 | Pemulwuy spears Governor Phillip’s gamekeeper and Phillip orders the first punitive expedition. Pemulwuy leads a guerrilla campaign. |
1813 | Colonists, with the help of Aboriginal people, cross the Blue Mountains. |
1830 | Start of the Black Wars in Tasmania. |
1835 | John Batman attempts to make a ‘treaty’ with Aboriginal people for Port Phillip Bay. It is later declared to be invalid as only the government can make treaties with Aboriginal people. |
1838 | On 10 June, 28 Aboriginal people are killed in the Myall Creek Massacre. |
1842 | Governor Bourke of NSW orders the establishment of the Native Police, in the Port Phillip district. |
1883 | The Aboriginal Protection Board is established in NSW. |
1886 | Western Australian Aborigines Protection Act establishes a Protection Board; the Victorian Aborigines Protection Act changes the definition of ‘Aboriginal person’ to exclude ‘half castes’ and nearly half the residents of reserves have to leave their homes. |
1890 | Jandamarra declares war on European invaders in the West Kimberley and prevents settlement for six years. |
1897 | The Queensland Aboriginal’s Protection and Restriction of Sale of Opium Act establishes reserves and provides for the appointment of protectors. |
1901 | Australian becomes a federation of six self-governing colonies. |
1909 | NSW introduces the Aborigines Act, making it illegal for ‘half-castes’ to live on reserves. In 1915 and 1918 amendments to the Act give the NSW Aborigines Protection Board greater powers to remove children for training as domestic servants. |
1928 | Thirty-two Aboriginal people are killed in the Conniston Massacre in the Northern Territory. |
1938 | On 26 January, the Aboriginal Progressive Association declares a Day of Mourning. A protest occurs outside Australia Hall in Sydney. |
1945 | Aboriginal pastoral workers in the Port Hedland, Western Australia, strike for better pay. The following year, Aboriginal pastoral workers in the Pilbara, Western Australia, also strike. |
1953 | Atomic tests are conducted on Maralinga lands, South Australia. |
1962 | The Commonwealth Electoral Act is amended to give the vote to all Aboriginal people. |
1963 | The Yirrkala bark petition against mining on the Gove Peninsula is drawn up by the senior men of the affected clans. |
1966 | Aboriginal workers at Wave Hill walk-off in protest against intolerable conditions and poor wages. |
1967 | The Commonwealth Referendum passes. |
1968 | The Commonwealth Office of Aboriginal Affairs is established. |
1969 | Aborigines Welfare Board in NSW is abolished. |
1972 | The ‘Aboriginal Embassy’ is pitched outside Parliament House in Canberra, calling for land rights; the community controlled Aboriginal Medical Service is set up in Redfern. |
1975 | Racial Discrimination Act (Cth) comes into force. |
1976 | Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (Cth) is passed. |
1985 | Uluru is handed back to the traditional owners. |
1988 | The Barunga Statement is presented to the federal government; large numbers of Aboriginal people protest in Sydney on the bicentenary of the establishment of the first colony. |
1989 | The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is established. |
1991 | The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody hands down its Report and Recommendations. |
1992 | Prime Minister Keating delivers his Redfern Park Speech at the launch of the International Year of Indigenous People. (See on YouTube or read transcript.) |
1994 | On 1 January, the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) becomes law. |
1997 | The 700-page report of the ‘Bringing them Home’ report on Indigenous children removed from their families is tabled in Federal Parliament. |
1998 | The Native Title Amendment Act is passed. |
2000 | 28 May, more than 300 000 people walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation. |
2005 | ATSIC is abolished. |
2007 | The Northern Territory Emergency Response is rolled out with bipartisan support. |
2008 | On 13 February, at Parliament House, Canberra, Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd apologises to the Stolen Generations. (Transcript of speech) |