aboriginal timeline - Band der Zeit

Kimberley strike This strike was held by indigenous workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, as they demanded equal wages and safer working conditions.

Wave Hill Land Handover The Wave Hill land handover was a result of the Gurindji strike, in which workers walked off of their job, demanding for their land to be given back. After a 7 yearlong battle for their land, Gough Whitlam allowed for most of the land in the Northern Territory to be given back to the aboriginal tribes that had lived there before, and giving the aboriginals tribes their homes back.

Freedom ride A group of University of Sydney students hired a bus, and went on a tour throughout Western and coastal New South Whales towns in hopes of raising awareness for the poor conditions that Aboriginals were living in. Adopting the name SAFA (Student Action For Aboriginals) they attempted to sway the opinions of business owners, who wouldn’t allow indigenous people into their hotels, cafes, or swimming pools.

Racial discrimination act The RDA was passed by Gough Whitlam in 1975, and was put into place to assure that no one would be treated unfairly due to their race or nationality. The RDA is monitored by the Australian Human Rights committee, which oversees, and judge’s cases that could in violation of the RDA, including disputes regarding racism, and it’s showing in land negotiations, job interviews, selling of goods and services, etc.

Gurindji strike and land claim The Gurindji strike and land claim was a large walk off strike held by members of Gurindji tribe who worked on the Wave Hill Cattle station. They demanded that their land be given back to them, and after strenuous fighting throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, they finally were granted back their land. This was Australia’s first successful aboriginal land claim and was important for future land claims and strikes to come.

Day of mourning protests The day of mourning protests were held on Australia day of 1938, and were held in protest of 150 years of poor aboriginal treatment, and land seizure. The Aboriginals that took part in this protest demanded better treatment than what they had been subjected to throughout the 150 years since the Whiteman came to Australia, and asked for better education, and equal status amongst the two races of English, and Aboriginal.

equal pay decision The equal wages case was brought to court in 1966, at the behest of the North Australian Workers Union. The aboriginal workers demanded to have equal pay as the white workers, in order to take one step closer to being treated equal. In 1968, the aboriginal protesters finally got what they wanted, and where given equal pay for their work, one year after a referendum was added to the constitution, classifying aboriginals as people.

Mabo decision The Mabo decision, was a legal case held in high court for the recognition of former owners of Aboriginal land. This was the culmination of a 10 year legal case, and ended with the high court ruling that Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders had right to the lands, rights that existed before the British came to Australia.

Referendum The Australian referendum in May of 1967 was a vote held to decide weather changes would be made to certain laws in Australia's constitution regarding the rights of aboriginals. The vote received a landslide victory, with 90.77% of voters voting yes.

Native title act The Native title act was implemented by the Keating government and aimed to lsten to disputes regarding land ownerships, and claims held by aboriginals. This was created as a result of the Mabo descision, and was considered the framework of protection and ercognition of native title.

The Wik decision The Wik decision was passed down by the high court, regarding the value of land-ownership and leases on aboriginal land. The case was brought up by the Wii people of North eastern Australia who claimed that they were the rightful owners of two large land areas. The court decided in 1996 that the Wik poeple deserved the right to their land, after one appeal on their behalf.

Tent embassy The aboriginal tent embassy was erected outside of Old Parliament house on Australia day as a way of representing the government, and striving for better rights for the aboriginal people. The tent embassy demanded that aboriginals receive preservation of sacred sights, ownership of the Northern Territory, and ownership of certain mines.

census Aboriginals were not counted in the census until 1967 and they were seen as flora and fauna instead of people.

apology This speech was given by Kevin Rudd in 2008 talking about how the Australian government and people have treated the native people to this land and how it was wrong of us to do the things we did.

Mutual obligation policy In 2004 the Australian Government announced they would be changing the way they looked at the system in which aboriginal were treated in Centrelink.