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BlackWords Historical Events Calendar
Significant Dates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
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Coordinated by BlackWords Team
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  • 2016 -

    2016

    Aboriginal languages programmes become a new subject in schools.

    Apple Store and Google Play remove the online game Survival Island 3- Australia Story 3D which told players to “beware of Aborigines” and had them bludgeon Aboriginal people to death to progress through the game.

    Jane Harrison’s novel Becoming Kirrali Lewis is highly commended at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

    This year marks the 50th anniversary of when Australia changed its currency from pounds to the new decimal currency on the 14 February 1966.

    The 30th Anniversary celebrations of the handback of the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park unfolds in Mutitjulu in October.

    The Reserve Bank of Australia revealed the design of the new $5 notes which will be issued on 1 September this year.

    Australia's most prominent First Nations broadcaster, Tiga Bayles passed away on the 17 April after a long battle with cancer.

    Singer, composer, actor and senior collaborator with Bangarra Dance Theatre, David Page died unexpectedly on 29 April.

    Winners of the 2016 NAIDOC Awards - Chris Sarra - Person of the Year; MaryAnn Bin-Sallik - Female Elder of the Year. The first Aboriginal nurse graduate; Dr Robert Francis Isaacs (WA) - Male Elder of the Year; Chris Sarra - Person of the Year. who dedicated his award to Aboriginal students in remote communities; Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu recognised as Artist of the Year; Elijah Douglas - Youth of the Year; Stephen Page - Lifetime Achievement Award, for his work as Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre; Jade North - Sportsperson of the Year; Montana Ah-Won - Apprentice of the Year; Layneisha Sgro - Scholar of the Year, and; Manymak Energy Efficiency Project - Caring for Country Award.

    Artist Harold Thomas wins Australia's most prestigious Indigenous art prize the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for his painting Tribal Abductions.

    Playwright Ursula Yovich wins the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright's Award to develop a stage play exploring Indigenous funeral ceremonies and her own Indigenous identity.

    Gurrumul Yunupingu wins the Indigenous Music Award for Artist of the Year for the fifth time.

    Dr Libby Connors wins the Australian Historical Association's 2016 Magarey Medal for Warrior: A Legendary Leader's Dramatic Life and Violent Death on the Colonial Frontier.

    Bruce Pascoe, wins award for Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality at the Gourmet Traveller National Restaurant Awards, 2016.

    Fifty anniversary of the Wave Hill Walk-Off, led by Vincent Lingiari on 23 August 1966, 200 Aboriginal stockmen of the Gurindji people and their families walked off the Wave Hill pastoral station, Northern Territory, owned by British aristocrat Lord Vestey. the walk-off had eventuated into a land claim, it was the first claim for traditional Aboriginal land in Australia.

    Tony Birch wins the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for his novel Ghost River.

    Fiction writer and Poet Paul Collis wins the Unpublished Indigenous Writer - David Unaipon Award for his work Dancing Home. And, Lesley and Tammy Williams win the Queensland Premier's Award for a work of State Significance for their work Not Just Black and White. Presented on the 5 October, 2016.

    Australian Archaeologist, Emeritus Professor Derek John Mulvaney AO CMG FAHA , also known as the "Father of Australian Archaeology" died 22 September 2016. Mulvaney was also a foundation member of the AIATSIS Council.

    Sally Morgan's Sister Heart had taken out the children's section of this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards. And, Geoffrey Blainey's The Story of Australia's People : The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia took out the Prize for Australian History. Young Adult fiction prize went to Jane Harrison's Becoming Kirrali Lewis.

    2017

    Tracey Moffat will be a representative of Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale, making her the first Aboriginal artist to present a solo exhibition at the event.

    January: Wiradjuri Elder Jenny Munro is a headline speaker at the Women's March in Sydney.

    February: June Oscar AO is named Australian Human Rights Commission's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Social Justice Commissioner, the first Indigenous woman to hold the position.

    April: Australia's first Indigenous animated children's program, Little J and Big Cuz, launches.

    13 May: Isaiah Firebrace, then seventeen, represents Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest, placing ninth in the final.

    19 May: Artefacts found in a Barrow Island cave date First Nations occupation of Australia to more than 50,000 years ago.

    26 May: Delegates to the National Constitutional Referendum Convention near Uluru in Central Australia release the 'Uluru Statement from the Heart', calling for a First Nations Voice in the Australian constitution and a commission to supervise decision making between government and First Nations people. The statement says, in part:

    We seek constitution reforms to empower or people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

    We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. 

    Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. 

    ...

    We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

    3 June: the 25th anniversary of the 'Mabo decision' (Mabo v Queensland No. 2) is marked.

    25 July: musician Dr G Yunupingu dies, aged 46.

    July: Federal Court determines that Yindjibarndi are entitled to exclusive native title rights over Pilbara land. The proceedings began in 2003. They continue to seek compensation from Fortescue Metals Group, which began mining the land for iron ore in 2013.

    July: yacht Southern Excellence enters the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race with a crew from the Tribal Warrior Aboriginal Corporation from Redfern, the first Indigenous crew to officially enter the race. (Southern Excellencecompleted the route the previous year, but without officially registering for the race.)

    September: graffiti on the statue of Captain Cook in Sydney draws attention to the use of the term 'discovered' for Cook's arrival in Australia.

    September: Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country wins the Special Jury Prize and the Premio Bisato d'Oro at the Venice Film Festival.

    November: Royal Commissioners Margaret White and Mick Gooda hand over the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory at Parliament House.

    November: The remains of 'Mungo Man', held by the Australian National University since 1974, were repatriated.

    18 November: Lidia Thorpe becomes the first Aboriginal representative elected to the Parliament of Victoria.

    29 November: Solomon (Sol) David Bellear, activist, rugby league player, and member of ATSIC, dies, aged 66.

    2018

    February: Harley Windsor, figure skater, becomes the first Indigenous Australian to represent Australia at the Winter Olympics, skating with partner Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya.

    April: Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia is released. Published by Black Ink Press it contains 52 contributions by emerging and established writers including Tony Birch, Natalie Crombie, Jared Thomas, Adam Goodes, Deborah Cheetham, Alexis West and Alice Eather.

    May: Jessica Mauboy represents Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Portugal, finishing in 20th place.

    May: Kaylene Whiskey wins the Sulman Prize for 'Kaylene TV'.

    June: Ashleigh Gardner becomes the first Indigenous Australian woman to play in a cricket World Cup, competing against Pakistan.

    July: The theme for NAIDOC Week is “Because of Her, We Can!’ and the nation celebrates First Nations Women across every sector of society. BlackWords has of 3000 First Nations women writers indexed. Pat Anderson receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the NAIDOC Awards.

    August marks the 20th anniversary of the Garma Festival in the Northern Territory.

    26 November: Indigenous rights activist Dr Ernestine 'Bonita' Mabo AO dies, aged 75. As well as her work with her late husband, Eddie Mabo, on land rights, she was known for advocacy for Indigenous schooling and equal rights.

    Early December: Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country sweeps the AACTAs, winning eight awards including Best Film and Best Director. Rachel PerkinsMystery Road wins three awards, including a Best Supporting Actress award for Deborah Mailman.

    21 December: The Australian Football League (AFL) appoints its first Indigenous commissioner, Palkyu woman Professor Helen Milroy, to help address the lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in the boardroom. Professor Milroy specialises in mental health.

    December: Magabala Books announces the new Daisy Utemorrah Award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of junior and YA fiction.

    Growing Up Indigenous in Australia is published by AustLit and includes stories by Samantha Faulkner, Andrea Wandin and Kristine Ellis.

    2019

    March: Magabala Books announces Charmaine Ledden-Lewis as the 2019 winner of its Kestin Indigenous Illustrator Award. 


    April: Professional boxer and author of My Longest Round, Wiradjuri man Wally Carr passed away.


    April: Top End Wedding starring Miranda Tapsell and directed by Wayne Blair opens in cinemas across Australia.

    April: It is announced that climbing Uluru will no longer we permitted as of October 2019. The sacred site has been written about by many BlackWords authors, across genres.

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