Overview of Australian Aboriginal History and Struggle for Civil Rights

1. Civil Rights in Australia

2. Civil Rights in Australia
• Was Australia part of the Civil Rights
Movement?
• Who was affected?
• What conditions prior to the 1960s led to Civil
Rights issues in Australia?
• What were the outcomes of the Civil Rights
action?

3. Early Contact
• Pre-1788
– Aboriginal people had lived in Australia for over 50,000
years
– 600-700 separate tribes, languages, rich culture
– Estimated population of 750,000 people
• 26 January 1788 – Settlement by Europeans
– Australia was described as “Terra Nullius”
– Conflict within a few weeks of Europeans arrival
– Smallpox swept through Aboriginal populations with some
tribes being wiped out

5. 19th Century
• Resistance by Aboriginal people to Europeans taking their land
– Black Wars on the Hawkesbury River 1799-1805
– Black Wars of Tasmania 1803-1830
• Massacres
– E.g. Swan River Massacre 1834, Myall Creek Massacre 1838, and Conniston
1928
• Granted voting rights under self-government
– Later discouraged, limited or removed
– 1885 Queensland Elections Act excluded all Indigenous people from voting
– 1893 Western Australian law denied the vote to Indigenous people
– 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act excludes Aboriginal people not already
enrolled
• Mission Stations (1810 onwards)
– Policy of Absorption
– Important work recording Aboriginal language & customs
• Boards of Protection
– Vic 1869, NSW 1883

7. Population Decline
• 1888- Aboriginal population estimated to be
80,000
• 1920 - Aboriginal population is estimated to
be at its lowest at 60,000 - 70,000. It is widely
believed to be a ‘dying race’. Most Australians
have no contact with Aboriginal people due to
segregation and social conventions.

8. Early 20th Century - Protection Policies
• Protection policies
– E.g. The Western Australia Aborigines Act is
passed, making the Chief Protector the legal
guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child
under 16 years old. Reserves are established, a
local protector is appointed and rules governing
Aboriginal employment are laid down.
• Lives of Aboriginal people strictly controlled
– Permission needed to leave reserves, to get
married, to get a job

9. 20th Century - Assimilation Policies
• 1937 – Commonwealth Government policy of
Assimilation
• In practice, assimilation policies lead to:
– destruction of Aboriginal identity and culture
– justification of dispossession
– the removal of Aboriginal children.
“In 50 years we should forget that there were any
Aborigines in this country.”
- A.O. Neville, Western Australian Chief Aboriginal
Protector

11. Stolen Generations
“The governments in the 1930s said children
had to be taken away from their parents
because the influence of their own communities
was immoral and they were in danger of abuse
and neglect, but the real agenda then was to de-
Aboriginalise them.”
- Michael Anderson, Aboriginal leader

12. Summary – Key Policies
• Dispossession (1788-)
• Annihilation (1788-1800s)
• Absorption (1800s)
• Protection (late 1800s-1937)
• Assimilation (1937-1960s)
• Integration (1960s)
• Self-Determination (1980s)
• Reconciliation (1990s+)

13. Milestones in Aboriginal Civil Rights
• 26 January 1938 – Day of Mourning
• 1962- 1965 – Commonwealth and States right to vote for Aboriginal
people campaigns
• 1965 – Freedom Ride to Moree, Walgett, Bowraville
• 1966 – Wave Hill Walk Off
• 1967 – Referendum- include Aboriginal people in census
• 1972 – Tent Embassy
• 1975 – Racial Discrimination Act passed
• 1992 – Mabo Land Rights Decision in High Court
• 1996 – Wik Decision
• 1997 – Bringing them Home Report into Stolen Generations
• 2007 – Northern Territory National Emergency Response
(Intervention)
• 13 February 2008 – PM Kevin Rudd’s Apology to Australia's
Indigenous peoples