Aboriginal Land Rights Act Time line

What is the mechanism of change about?

about the mechanism of change

The aboriginal land rights act was the first act to create mechanism for the grant of lands to indigenous people.

The First Petition - 1963

1963

In 1963 on the 13th of March the Commonwealth government stole over 300 square kilometres of land from the Arnhem land reserve so that they could grant mining leases for bauxite mining - a rock with a high aluminium content.  Elders were concerned about the effects this would have on the land and access to their sacred sites because this was done without consulting the traditional caretakers. When opposition Labor party members visited the Yolngu people, they advised them to write down their concerns, problems, and a request for an enquiry. One in Yolngu Matha and one in English were both established as petitions. The stories of the Yolngu moieties Dhuwa and Yirritja had been customarily painted on the bark sheets on which both were typed up. The Select Committee on Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, was constituted in Parliament as a result of the petitions. The committee recognised the rights that the Yolngu people had outlined and advised Parliament to organise compensation, protect holy places, and form a committee to continue keeping an eye on the mining projects.

Wave Hill Walk-Off - 1966

1966

At Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory, 200 Gurindji stockmen, domestic workers, and their families began a strike on August 23, 1966.

A seven-year conflict began after negotiations with the station's owners, the global food corporation Vestey Brothers, fell down.

This ultimately resulted in the Gurindji people receiving a portion of their ancestral lands back in 1974 

Land rights legislation - 1976

1976

A key social reform is the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act of 1976. It was the first attempt by an Australian government to establish the idea of inalienable land titles and formally recognise the Aboriginal system of land ownership. By awards made under the Land Rights Act, many Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory have regained ownership of their land. Obtaining a freehold title enables people to preserve and, occasionally, reestablish their sense of cultural identity. The act has provided some security to individuals who have returned to establish outstations on the country of their ancestors. The law has given us the ability to choose the rate and depth of our integration into the larger Australian society and economy by granting legal title and a certain amount of authority over parts of our traditional lands. The numerous resource development initiatives and commercial ventures that are currently taking place on Our land demonstrate that upholding our land rights and supporting national economic development are complementary goals.

Mabo Case - 1982

1982

Eddie Koiki Mabo, Reverend David Passi, Celuia Mapo Salee, Sam Passi, and James Rice were a group of Meriam people who filed a lawsuit in the High Court against the States of Queensland and Australia in 1982. The lawsuit was known as the Mabo Case since Eddie Koiki Mabo was named as the initial plaintiff. The Mabo Case posed two challenges to the current Australian legal system: On the premise that before British colonists arrived in 1788, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had no concept of owning property (terra nullius). Any prior rights were abolished as a result of that sovereignty, which gave the Crown entire possession of all the land in the new Colony. The Court upheld the claim in Mabo and others v. Queensland 10 years later and determined that the lands of this continent were not terra nullius, or "land belonging to no-one," at the time of European arrival. The Meriam customs and laws are crucial to their traditional system of ownership and support their customary rights and obligations in respect to land, as was successfully demonstrated by Koiki Mabo and the Mer people in their case. In this historic decision, the judge acknowledged that Indigenous peoples had been residing in Australia for thousands of years and had rights to their territory under their own laws and traditions. The Native Title Act 1993 was enacted the next year.

The Aboriginal Land Rights Act - 1983

1983

The Hawke administration had pledged to pass legislation to guarantee that "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia gain land rights and their cultural places and artefacts are completely safeguarded" during the federal election in March 1983. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 was enacted by the NSW government on June 10, 1983, following the introduction of the Aboriginal Land Rights Bill into the NSW Legislative Assembly in March 1983. The majority of the most important suggestions from the commission's initial report were included in the Act (in August 1980).

Native Title Act - 1993

1993

The Native Title Act 1993 was enacted by year's end. The Act aimed to accomplish the following: To establish a mechanism for determining claims to native title, to provide for the recognition and protection of native title, to establish how future dealings affecting native title may proceed and set standards for those dealings, to provide for, or permit, the validation of past acts, and intermediate period acts, invalidated because native title exists. The Western Australian government prepared its own laws to revoke all native title in the state the same year in an effort to act before the Federal. Legal access rights for "traditional land usage" were to take the role of native title. The High Court heard arguments against both the Commonwealth Act and the WA Act. The 1995 Native Title Act decision established that the Commonwealth legislation was a legitimate use of its authority and that the state legislation was contradictory and hence unconstitutional. More than 32% of the Australian continent now recognises native title as a result of the Native Title Act implementation.