Learn the History /

Lionel Morgan: A Lasting Legacy

2023 marks 63 years since Lionel Morgan became the first Indigenous man to represent Australia. To find out more about his inspiring story, click here.

National Sorry Day — May 26th

• Every year on May 26, National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities.
• The removal of these people is known today as “The Stolen Generations.”
  The first National Sorry Day was held on May 26, 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home report was tabled in Parliament.
• The Bringing Them Home report is a result of a Government inquiry into the past policies and procedures which caused children to be removed from their families and communities throughout the 20th Century.
• 2023 marks the 26th anniversary of the report.

For more information, please visit https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-sorry-day-2020/

1967 Referendum — May 27th

What was life like for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples before 1967?

• When the First Fleet arrived to Australia in January 1788, Great Britain took formal ownership of Australia — without negotiating with the original inhabitants, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia who had inhabited the land for between 40,000 to 60,000 years.
• The British Government declared that the continent was terra nullius, meaning empty land, or land that belongs to nobody.
• Their settlement in Australia was not peaceful. Aboriginal people were moved off their traditional land and killed in battles or by hunting parties. European diseases such as measles and tuberculosis also killed many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• From 1829, Australia was officially considered part of Great Britain, which meant that all inhabitants, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, were regarded as British subjects.
• In 1901, the Australian Constitution took effect and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Under the laws at the time of the Australian Government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were not included as citizens. Instead, in many cases, they were treated as foreigners in their own land.
• On May 27th, 1967, the Australian Government held a referendum to alter our nation’s constitution. In a momentous turning point in Australia’s history, more than 90 percent of voters chose “Yes” to count Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples in the census — giving the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• The 1967 referendum paved the way for several significant developments, including:
• The introduction of positive discrimination, which is otherwise known as affirmative action. Positive discrimination is a way to directly readdress the disadvantage that groups of people have experienced in the past.
• The enactment of several important pieces of legislation including:

1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975
2. Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976
3. Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976
4. Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991
5. Native Title Act 1993.

• The gradual development of a new administrative and practical definition of “Aboriginality” — a definition on community and self-identification rather than a person’s DNA or genetics.

For more information, please visit: https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/about-nrw/

Mabo Decision — 3rd June

• Despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupying Australia for 40,000 to 60,000 years before the British arrived in 1788, terra nullius declared that Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples’ occupation of, and unique connection with, the land were not recognised.
• British settlers therefore took the land without agreement or payment.
• The Mer Islanders in the Torres Straight decided they would be the ones to challenge the legal principle of terra nullius in the High Court and that Eddie Mabo would be the one to lead the action. Mabo spent a decade seeking official recognition of his people’s ownership of Mer. On June 3 in 1992, the High Court Australia rejected the doctrine that Australia was terra nullius (meaning land belong to no-one) when the British arrived.
• Native title is important because dispossession and the denial of land the first act in the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Europeans — setting the tone for the events that followed.
• The Native Title Act 1993 is important because it determines how native title interests are formally recorded and recognised. It sets the rules for dealing with land where native title still exists or may exist.

For more information, please visit: https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/about-nrw/

National Reconciliation Week — 27th May to 3rd June

• National Reconciliation Week is the same time each year from 27 May to 3 June.
• It is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
• This year’s theme builds on the 2022 theme, which encouraged us all to be brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation. So that we can make change for the benefit of all Australians.
• The theme for National Reconciliation Week in 2023 is “Be a Voice for Generations.”
• This is an urge to all Australians to use their power, their words and their vote to create a better, more just Australia for all of us.
• Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward — creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

For more information, please visit: https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/be-a-voice-for-generations-national-reconciliation-week-2023/