Barani - Timeline

This timeline is a quick overview of landmark events that have impacted upon or are significant to Aboriginal peoples in Sydney post white invasion. For a more detailed discussion of Aboriginal history in Sydney, explore the themes listed on the side.

1770 - Captain James Cook proclaims "the whole of Eastern coast" for Britain as NSW.

1790-1802 - Pemulwuy leads Eora resistance to Invasion



(© Brenda Palma)

1832 - Bungaree died



(PXA 615, f21. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.)

1888 - Aborigines boycott Centenary celebrations

1920 - Aboriginal population falls to about 60,000 partly as a result of massacres and partly as a result of new diseases introduced

1937 - Aborigines Progressive Association formed in Sydney

1958 - Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) formed

1958 - Tranby Aboriginal College began



Tranby Co-operative Aboriginal College in suburban Glebe in the 1960s. (© Co-operative for Aborigines Ltd. Tranby Aboriginal College Archives)

1961 - Federal franchise extended to adult Indigenous people, registration voluntary

1967 - Federal referendum gives Aborigines right to vote and citizenships rights with a majority 90.77% "Yes" vote



(Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW)

1969 - Abstudy introduced to assist Aboriginal students

1971 - Aborigines included in national census for the first time

1971 - Aboriginal Flag hoisted on National Aboriginal Day

1971 - Evonne Goolagong named "Australian of the Year"

1973 - NSW legislates to establish Aboriginal Lands Trust to be given freehold title to former reserves

1973 - National Aboriginal Consultative Committee set up to assist Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

1976 - Pat O'Shane graduates from University of NSW as the first Aboriginal law graduate

1978 - Select Committee of NSW Legislative Council begins inquiry into Aboriginal affairs, including land rights 1979 Galarrwuy Yunipingu, chairman of the Northern Land Council is made "Australian of the Year"

1981 - Pat O'Shane becomes head of the NSW Dept of Aboriginal Affairs, the first woman in Australia to head a Government department

1981 - All three Ella brothers, Mark, Gary and Glen take part in the Wallabies' tour of Britain

1983 - NSW passes Aboriginal Land Rights Act and establishes 71 local Aboriginal land councils

1986 - Pat O'Shane appointed as NSW's first Aboriginal magistrate

1988 - National Aboriginal & Islander Skills Development Association formed

1988 - On 26 January, 40,000 people participate in the March for Freedom, Justice and Hope in Sydney as a protest against the invasion of Australia by Europeans 200 years previously

1990 - ATSIC is established, amalgamating former DAA and ADC to become the main policy-making body for Aboriginal affairs. Lowitja O'Donoghue becomes Chairperson of interim Board

1990 - Mum Shirl named "Aboriginal of the Year"

1990 - Cathy Freeman named "Young Australian of the Year"

1992 - First Survival concert, La Perouse

1992 - Eddie Mabo & Meriam people win struggle in High Court for recognition of Native Title, overturning the lie of "terra nullius"

1992 - Prime Minister Paul Keating launches UN International Year of the World's Indigenous People in Redfern Park, Sydney, with landmark speech calling for reconciliation

1994 - The Native Title Act 1993 comes into effect

1997 - John Howard's Ten Point Plan on Native Title enacted

1997 - Nova Peris-Kneebone named "Young Australian of the Year"

1997 - Bringing Them Home Report on Stolen Generations launched

1999 - Aden Ridgeway & Democrats agree on text for new Preamble to the Constitution, preferring the term 'kinship with' to 'custodianship of' land

1999 - Our culture, our future, report on Indigenous intellectual property rights, launched in Sydney

1999 - "Bush Tucker Rights" recognised

1999 - Launch of the Tranby Interpretive walk and video

1788 - Invasion - the arrival of the First Fleet of Officials, Marines and Convicts from England.

1813 - Bennelong died



This undated portrait signed 'W.W.' is believed to be of Bennelong (Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW)

1868 - First Australian cricket team to tour overseas is Aboriginal

1909 - Forward George Green becomes the first Aboriginal person to play senior Rugby League, playing for Eastern Suburbs

1932 - Australian Aborigines League formed

1938 - Day of Mourning Protest and Conference, Sydney



(Man, March 1938. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.)

1959 - Tranby College officially opens

1965 - Charles Perkins and Gerry Mason lead a busload of activists and students throughout NSW on freedom rides to protest against segregation in such places as swimming pools and theatres

1968 - The Council for Aboriginal Affairs was established to advise the Commonwealth Government on its new responsibilities

1968 - Lionel Rose named "Australian of the Year"

1970 - Aboriginal Legal Service established at Redfern, Sydney, followed by Aboriginal Medical Service

1970 - Eric Simms kicks four field goals in South Sydney's 23-12 Grand Final win over Manly. He kicked so many goals that season that the authorities reduced the value of a field goal from two points to one

1972 - Aboriginal Tent Embassy set up on lawns of Parliament House to fight for land rights

1972 - First land rights claim

1975 - Racial Discrimination Act

1975 - Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme established

1977 - National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) established, with 35 elected members, to advise Government

1977 - NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group formed

1979 - Galarrwuy Yunipingu, chairman of the Northern Land Council is made "Australian of the Year"

1979 - Aboriginal Treaty Committee (ATC) launches campaign for a treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

1982 - Aboriginal Tent Embassy re-erected in Canberra

1982 - Blackbooks established

1982 - Mark Ella named "Australian of the Year"

1984 - Charles Perkins becomes Secretary of Federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs

1984 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage (Interim Protection) Act comes into force, for the protection of significant Aboriginal sites and objects

1987 - 20th Anniversary of Referendum. Prime Minister Bob Hawke talks of a treaty with Indigenous Australians. Opposition Leader John Howard objects to Treaty proposal

1987 - Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative formed


Craft work produced by the Aboriginal artists of Boomalli. (Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-Operative)

1987 - Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody commences

1989 - Bangarra Dance Company formed



(City of Sydney Archives. NSCA CRS 904/1474 - neg.32)

1991 - The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation formed, Pat Dodson appointed chairperson

1991 - Pemulwuy Community High School officially opened

1993 - United Nations International Year for the World's Indigenous People

1993 - Mandawuy Yunipingu named "Australian of the Year"

1993 - Mick Dodson becomes first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

1996 - Wik Decision on Native Title rules that pastoral leases do not extinguish native title

1996 - Pauline Hanson elected in the Federal seat of Oxley, promotes anti-Aboriginal policies

1996 - Merrima Aboriginal Design Unit formed, Sydney

1998 - ABSTUDY abolished

1998 - First national 'Sorry Day' held on 26 May to commemorate release of Bringing Them Home Report, later renamed 'Journey of Healing' Day

1998 - UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issues warning to Australian Government over Native Title Act

1998 - Aden Ridgeway, NSW Democrat, becomes the second Indigenous Federal parliamentarian

2000 -Corroboree 2000, Reconciliation's culminating event, takes place on 26-27 May. Campaign for a treaty launched



Designed and distributed in 2000 by The Body Shop (Artwork by Donna Brown)

2000 - People's Walk for Reconciliation over Sydney Harbour Bridge



(private collection)

2001 - Dual naming approved by the New South Wales Geographic Names Board for Dawes Point, Sydney. Point to be known as Tarra / Dawes Point. Tarra was the Eora word used to describe the area.

2001 - Gadigal Information Service issued a full-time, Sydney-wide licence for Koori Radio by the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

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