Chronological listing of Aboriginal History in Australia
55,000 60,000 BP
At a site in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, a rock shelter was used by people about
60,000 years ago.
45,000 BP
Rock engravings discovered in South Australia date back 45,000 years.
35,500 BP
Around 35,500 years ago at Willandra Lakes, western New South Wales, an Aboriginal
family left a midden of mussel shells, charcoal and ash from a dinner camp.
30,000 BP
A man from Lake Mungo area was buried in a shallow grave about 30,000 years ago.
29,500 BP
The Devil's Lair, a cave in the south-west of Western Australia, was first occupied
(occupation ceased about 6000 years ago).
26,500 BP
The body of a woman from Lake Mungo, Western Australia, provides the earliest
evidence of ritual cremation in the world.
23,000 BP
Aborigines who lived at Malangangarr in Arnhem Land used ground-edge axes.
22,000 BP
Earliest recorded occupation of the central deserts at Puritjarra.
15 - 24,000
BP
Under the Nullabor Plains at Koonalda, Aborigines mined flint and left grooved designs
on cave walls.
18,000 BP
At Miriwan in WA and in the Pilbara, ground-edge axes were being used.
Art at Ubirr discovered in Kakadu National Park depicts now extinct animals.
12,000 BP
In the post-glacial period, around 12,000 years ago, Tasmania separated from the
mainland.
10,000 BP
Aborigines at Wyrie Swamp used boomerangs for hunting.
Aboriginal remains discovered at Kow Swamp, northern Victoria, date back 10,000
years.
9000 - 7000
BP
The earliest visible evidence of the Rainbow Serpent in Aboriginal belief.
6800 BP
Human remains found at Lake Nitchie date back 6800 years.
3000 BP
Small tool technology had spread as far as Cape York.
1000 BP
Dugout canoes were being used by Aborigines along Australia's northern coast.
1400 - 1810
1400s Possible landings on Australian shores by merchants and explorers from India.
Chinese traders may have reached the nothern shores of Australia in the first half of the 15th
century.
1558
Macassan journeys to the north eastern coast of the Northern Territory started tradings with the
Aborigines.
1605
Spanish explorer Pedro Fernando de Quiros named a small island along the northern coast 'Australis
del Espiritu Santo', mistaking it for Australia.
Dutch ship 'Duyfken' captained by William Jansz made contact with Aborigines on the west of Cape
York Peninsula.
1606
Luis Vaez de Torres sailed past Cape York, where the Strait now bears his name.
1616
Dutchman Dirk Hartog landed on an island off the Western Australian coast, now named after him.
1622
The south-westerly tip of Australia was sighted by the ship 'Leeuwin', which the cape is named after.
1688
Englishman William Dampier landed in Australia.
1770
James Cook claimed possession of the east coast of Australia, raising the British flag at Possession
Island, at the tip of Cape York.
1788
European colonisation of Australia.
The Aboriginal population was more than 750,000.
1791
The first Crown Land Grants were made.
1793
First free immigrants settled at Liberty Plains.
1798
Bass and Flinders circumnavigated Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania).
1799
Aboriginal resistance flared in the Parramatta and Hawkesbury regions.
1803
Van Dieman's Land was settled.
1804
Settlers in Van Dieman's Land were authorised to shoot Aborigines.
First celebration by European settlers of 26th January as the foundation of the colony.
1810 - 1900
1813
Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson crossed the Blue Mountains.
1817
In official correspondence Governor Macquarie adopted the name 'Australia', meaning Southland
(Terra Australis).
1825
Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) became a separate colony from New South Wales.
1828
First census
European population 36,595.
1829
Settlement of Perth founded.
1830
The 'Black Line' formed in Van Dieman's Land to capture Aborigines.
1834
South Australia became a province.
1835
Settlement of what became Melbourne.
John Batman entered a treaty to validate his land claim.
1838
First Aboriginal Protectorate established for Port Phillip.
1838- In south-western Victoria, Gunditjmara's resistance to their lands being occupied was strong.
45
1848
New South Wales native police troopers were brought to Queensland to kill the Aborigines and open
up the land for settlement.
1850
Port Phillip District (Victoria) separated from New South Wales.
1851
Gold rush.
1854
Eureka Stockade.
1858
Population (non-indigenous) - 1,000,000.
1859
The separate colony of Queensland was established.
1868
Transportation of convicts ended.
The first Aboriginal cricket team left Sydney for England.
150 Aboriginal people were killed for resisting arrest in the Kimberly region.
1872
Ayers Rock named by explorer William Gosse.
1877
Population - 2,000,000.
1890
Western Australia became the last Australian colony to achieve self-government.
Economic depression.
1894
Jandamarra, an Aboriginal resistance fighter, declared war on European invaders in the West
Kimberley.
1900 - 1960
1901
Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed on 1st January.
White Australia policy introduced.
1904
Population - 4,000,000.
1908
Canberra chosen as the site for the capital of Australia.
Introduction of the Invalid & Old Age Pensioner Act which provided Social Security benefits,
excluding Aboriginal people.
1912
Introduction of the Maternity Allowance; Aboriginal people were excluded.
1914- World War I.
18
1918
Population - 5,000,000.
1919
Migration scheme for British ex-servicemen and their families introduced.
1922
Purrkuji massacre of Aboriginal people in SE Kimberley.
1929
The Great Depression.
1935
Population - 6,000,000.
1938
Australian Aborigines Conference held on 26th January.
1939- World War II.
45
1941
Child Endowment Act introduced; no endowment was paid to nomadic or dependent natives.
1947
Pact signed with the International Refugees Organisation to resettle Europeans displaced by war.
Beginning of major immigration program.
1949
Population - 8,000,000.
Commonwealth Electoral Act extended franchise to Aboriginal ex-servicemen.
1953
Northern Territory Legislative Council passed a bill giving citizenship rights to all Territory Aborigines
except those in state care.
1954
First tour of Australia by a reigning sovereign, made by Queen Elizabeth II.
1956
'Permanent residence' status created to allow non-European migrants to claim citizenship and bring
out their families.
1957
The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders was established.
1959
Population - 10,000,000.
1962
Commonwealth Electoral Act amended giving franchise to all Aboriginal people.
1963
A bark petition against mining on the Gove Peninsula was presented to Parliament.
1965
Aboriginal leader Charles Perkins leads Freedom Ride through western NSW.
1966
Population, including Aboriginal people - 11,599,498.
Stockmen and women at Wave Hill walk off in protest against intolerable working conditions and
inadequate wages.
1967
The referendum proposing amendments to remove constitutional discrimination against Aboriginal
people was approved by over 90% of voters.
1971
Gove Land Rights Case - Denial of Aboriginal Property Rights, which affirmed the Fiction of Terra
Nullius.
First time the Aboriginal flag was flown.
1972
Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established.
1975
Racial Discrimination Act passed in Federal Parliament.
1976
Aboriginal land Rights (Nothern Territory) Act - 36% of NT land area reverted to Aboriginal
ownership under freehold title.
1984
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Interim Protection) Act came into force.
1985
Handback Day.
1988
Celebration of the Bicentennial, Australia Day protests and first step to Aboriginal recognition.
1989
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act was established (ATSIC).
1991
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody presented its Report to the Federal
Government.
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act was passed in Parliament.
1992
The High Court handed down the Mabo decision.
1993
International Year for the World's Indigenous People.
1994
Native Title Act 1993 came into effect.
1996
The High Court handed down the Wik decision.
Australian population - 18,311,000.
1997
The Stolen Generation Report.
1998
First National Sorry Day.
2001
Centenary of Federation.
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991 ceases to have force.
Reference:
Lore of the Land; Reconciling Spirit and place in Australias story.
Accessed via web address: http://www.loreoftheland.com.au/index.html