RECONCILIATION TIMELINE Reconciliation – let’s see it through

1768

Captain James Cook is issued with orders from the British Empire that if he discovers the great southern land he is “with consent of the natives take possession of convenient situations in the name of the King … or if you find the land uninhabited take possession for His Majesty”.

1770

Captain Cook in the Endeavour enters Botany Bay. After an encounter with local people in Botany Bay Cook writes "all they seem'd to want was us to be gone".

1788

The First Fleet arrives and builds a settlement at Port Jackson in NSW.

1835

John Batman attempts to make a 'treaty' with Aboriginal people for Port Phillip Bay. This is the only time colonists attempt to sign a treaty for land with Aboriginal owners.

1836

A select committee of the British House of Commons says that Aborigines have a ‘plain right and sacred right’ to their land. The committee reports genocide is happening in the colonies.

1938

The Aborigines Progressive Association declares a Day of Mourning on Australia Day and holds the first Aborigines Conference in Sydney.

1948

The Commonwealth Citizenship and Nationality Act for the first time gives the category of ‘Australian Citizenship’ to all Australians, including Aborigines.

1962

The Commonwealth Electoral Act is amended to give the vote to all Aboriginal people.

1966

Vincent Lingiari leads a walk-off from the cattle station Wave Hill in the Northern Territory, protesting inadequate wages and poor conditions and demands the return of traditional lands.

1967

After 10 years of campaigning for equality by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, over 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal people.

1972

The Whitlam Government establishes the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and makes a firm commitment to the policy of self-determination.

The 'Aboriginal Embassy' is pitched outside Parliament House in Canberra, demonstrating for land rights.

1976

The Fraser Government passes the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act and brings the new legislation into operation.

1979

The Aboriginal Treaty Committee is formed and the National Aboriginal Conference calls for a treaty between the Commonwealth Government and Aboriginal people.

1984

Nine members of an extended Pintupi family, dubbed ‘The Pintupi 9’, still living a semi-nomadic life in the Gibson Desert are found and brought in to communities.

1986

Pope John Paul II visits Alice Springs and makes a public statement saying 'There is a need for a just and proper settlement (with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) that still lies unachieved in Australia.'

1988

Prime Minister Bob Hawke is presented with two paintings and text calling for Indigenous rights. This has become known as the Barunga Statement which now hangs in Parliament

House in Canberra.

1991

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which inquired into the deaths of 99 Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in Australian jails.

Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act is passed in the Senate with unanimous support.

1992

High Court hands down its Mabo decision, recognising special relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have with the land. The court decrees that Australia was never terra nullius (empty land).

Prime Minister Paul Keating delivers his famous Redfern address.

The Government creates the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner position as a part of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

1993

International Year of the World's Indigenous People.

First national Week of Prayer for Reconciliation with support from all major religious groups.

Native Title Act passed by Federal Parliament recognising native title and providing a process by which native title rights can be established.

1994

The Uniting Church National Assembly formally apologises for past wrongs and pledges to work in solidarity with the Aboriginal and Islander Congress.

The Australian Football League releases a new code of conduct on racism.

1996

Aboriginal, pastoral and environmental organisations on Cape York sign the Cape York Land Use Heads of Agreement. The agreement is seen as the first step towards a possible Regional Agreement as defined in the Commonwealth Native Title Act.

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launches the first National Reconciliation Week (NRW).

1997

The ‘Bringing Them Home Report’, uncovering the suffering of the Stolen Generations, is launched at the National Reconciliation Convention. This event is an historic landmark in the reconciliation process and stimulates a grassroots people's movement around the country.

2000

Around 300,000 people walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge and hundreds of thousands more around the country as part of National Reconciliation Week, demonstrating their support for the reconciliation process.

Reconciliation Australia set up as an independent, not-for-profit organisation to carry the movement forward.

2004

Indigenous Governance Awards launched in partnership with BHP Billiton

2005

National Reconciliation Planning Workshop, attended by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

2006

Reconciliation Australia launches its Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) program, calling on governments, business and community organisations to commit to specific, measurable, action-oriented plans.

2007

May - The 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum honours surviving campaigners and stimulates Australians of today to realise the vision of equality that attracted such a high vote four decades ago.

June - At a joint press conference Prime Minister John Howard and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough announce a dramatic intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities in response to the findings of a report about sexual abuse.

August - Six weeks after the announcement the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act is passed, giving the Government power to acquire Aboriginal land for five years and hold back 50 percent of all welfare payments for necessary items. The long standing permit system, enacted as part of the 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) is scrapped. The legislation includes exemptions from the Racial Discrimination Act.

2008

February - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologises to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Australian parliament and the Australian people. The Apology is the first item of business for the newly elected Government.

2010

May – 10th anniversary of the Bridge Walks for Reconciliation and launch of the new public awareness campaign, Reconciliation – let’s see it through.