AustLit

1971

Gumatj Elders Millrrpum and others take on Nabalco Pty Ltd and the Commonwealth of Australia in the Gove Land Rights Case.

Following on from the presentation of a bark petition, Noonkanbah, Western Australia, station workers walk off.

Larrakia people 'sit-in' at Bagot Road, Darwin, Northern Territory, as a protest against the theft of their land.

Evonne Goolagong Cawley wins Wimbledon.

July 12: The Aboriginal flag designed by Harold Thomas is first raised at Victoria Square in Adelaide.

Neville Bonner was the first Aboriginal person to sit in Federal Parliament. He was a Senator for Queensland from 1971 until 1983, and was a member of the Liberal Party.

1972

Aboriginal people pitch their Tent Embassy outside Parliament House in Canberra.

The Whitlam Government brings in a policy of self-determination.

1975

Federal Racial Discrimination Act passed.

1978

Kevin Gilbert's oral history, Living Black, wins the National Book Council Award.

Respected Indigenous leader, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, is named Australian of the Year.

1979

The first Aboriginal person in Federal Parliament, Senator Neville Bonner, is named Australian of the Year.

1980

The National Federation of Land Councils is formed, giving a united voice to the Land Rights movement throughout Australia

Link Up (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation is established, followed by Link-Up Qld in 1988. The organisations provide family tracing, reunion and support for forcibly removed children and their families.

1981

Secretariat of National Aboriginal Islander Child Care (SNAICC) established. SNAICC represents the interests on a national level of Australia's 100 or so children's care services.

1982

Mark Ella named Young Australian of the Year. Ella, captain of the Australian Rugby Union team (known as the Wallabies), was one of three brothers, all of whom played for the Wallabies, from the Aboriginal community of La Perouse.

1983

New South Wales Land Rights Act passes into law.

1984

Prime Minister Bob Hawke announces the removal of Aboriginal Peoples' limited right to say 'yes or no' to mining on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory.

Aboriginal Leader from South Australia, Lowitja O'Donoghue, named Australian of the Year.

The first Putalina Festival is held at Oyster Cove (‘putalina’ in the local language). It celebrates Aboriginal culture with music, dance and festivities, and provides a platform for young Aboriginal performers. Oyster Cove was handed back to Aboriginal people in 1995.

1985

Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) is handed back to traditional owners, Anangu was a controversial event. The federal government announced that it would return the Park land to the traditional owners on the condition that it be leased back to the federal parks service for ninety-nine years.

1986

Jack Davis's play, No Sugar, receives international acclaim when it represents Australia at the World Theatre Festival in Canada, and is co-winner that year of the Australian Writers' Guild award for best original stage play.

1987

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody begins.

The newly established Aboriginal publishing house, Magabala Books, released its first title, Mayi – Some Bushfruits of the West Kimberley by Merrilee Lands. Wandering Girl, an autobiography by Glenyse Ward, was Magabala's next title.

1988

26 January: Survival Day March celebrating Aboriginal survival. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with supporters from around Australia converge on Sydney, New South Wales, to protest.

Yuin man Burnum Burnum raised the Aboriginal Flag on the white cliffs of Dover, to proclaim England for the Aboriginal people. This lone protest attracted world media coverage.

11 June: The Barunga Statement is presented to Prime Minister Bob Hawke calling for:

'Aboriginal self-management, a national system of land rights, compensation for loss of lands, respect for Aboriginal identity, an end to discrimination, and the granting of full civil, economic, social and cultural rights'.

Howie-Willis, Ian. Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia.

Kevin Gilbert is awarded, and refuses, the Human Rights Award for Literature.

1989

Graeme Dixon wins the inaugural David Unaipon Award for Holocaust Island.