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BlackWords Historical Events Calendar
Significant Dates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
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  • 1950-1969

    1950

    Aboriginal children assimilated into local schools in New South Wales, if all other parents agree.

    1951

    Third Commonwealth-State conference on native welfare affirms Aboriginal Assimilation as the aim of native welfare measures: assimilation means that, in the course of time, it is expected that all persons of 'Aboriginal blood' or 'mixed blood' in Australia will live like 'other' (that is, white) Australians do.

    1953

    Atomic tests carried out at Emu, South Australia. Further tests at Maralinga in 1956 and 1957. Aborigines describe a black mist and report sight loss and skin rashes. Many die from radiation poisoning. Hundreds of families are forced to leave their homelands because of severe contamination.

    1958

    Activists from all mainland States and Territories form the group, the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (FCAA), and work tirelessly to make changes to the Constitution leading to the 1967 Referendum.

    1963

    In July, a bark petition against mining on the Gove Peninsula, Northern Territory, is drawn up by senior men of the affected clans. On 28 August, what is known as the Yirrkala Bark Petition is presented to the Governor-General. The Federal Parliament fails to recognise Aboriginal political structures and rejects the petition because of insufficient signatures.

    1965

    The Federal Government adopts a policy of integration of Aboriginal people. Charles Perkins leads Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal students, including a group from Sydney University, on Freedom Rides through western New South Wales to bring public attention to the appalling living conditions of some Aboriginal peoples, and to raise the issue of segregation in country towns including Walgett, Gulargambone, Kempsey, Bowraville and Moree.

    Australian Labor Party drops the White Australia policy.

    1966

    23 August: Aboriginal people awarded equal pay. In the Northern Territory this is deferred for three years on the grounds of hardship for employers.

    Stockmen and women at Wave Hill, Northern Territory, walk off in protest against intolerable working conditions and inadequate wages. Walk-outs – strikes or fights between blacks and whites, as they were sometimes referred to – were recorded as far back as 1938 with the declaration of the Day of Mourning. The 1946 Pilbara Strike became famous as did a strike as late as 1973 in the Victoria River District. The most notorious and famed walk-off is the 1966 walk-off of the Gurindji people at Wave Hill.

    The Gurindji Strike on Wave Hill Station began on 23 August 1966. The walk-off to Daguragu (Wattie Creek) was led by Vincent Lingiari in response to the Arbitration Commission's decision to not pay Aboriginal pastoral workers equal wages. It would not be until 1968 that the poor conditions meted out by station owner Lord Vestey were recognised by the Government of the day. The Gurindji people were supporting their rights to equal wages and equal treatment of their people. Monies and basic food and health care given Lord Vestey by the Government for the provisioning of Aboriginal people on his property were withheld. These monies include child endowment, housing and wages. Food and health care were also withheld and are only given out on rare occasions.

    In the early stages of the walk-off, the Government threatens to kick the Gurindji people off their land. In a turn of events the Government offers to build houses, but the Gurindji people stand firm. Public opinion begins to swing in the Gurindjis' favour and, with the success of the 1967 referendum, they gather support. In 1972, after the election to government of the Australian Labor Party, land rights are back on the agenda and a small parcel of land is returned to the Gurindji people. The petition to the Government states:

    Our people lived here from time immemorial, and our culture, myths, dreaming and sacred places have evolved in this land. Many of our forefathers were killed in the early days while trying to retain it. Therefore we feel that morally the land is ours and should be returned to us.

    ( Aboriginal Australians : Black Response to White Dominance 1788-1980. Author: Richard Broome

    It is not until nine years later that the Gurindji people are recognised as the traditional owners and acknowledged by the newly elected Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam when he poured sand into Vincent Lingiari's hand. Today a large section of this country is owned and maintained by the Gurindji people.

    1967

    Commonwealth Referendum with an overwhelming YES vote, leads to the Commonwealth Government now able to legislate on Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are also granted citizenship.

    1968

    The Aboriginal community of Yirrkala, Northern Territory, brings action against Nabalco Pty Ltd and the Commonwealth in what becomes known as the Gove Land Rights Case. The action seeks to prove the Doctrine of Communal Native Title that leases granted under the legislation are invalid and the company's operation is unlawful.

    Aborigines Welfare Board, New South Wales, abolished.

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