How Did Indigenous People Get Their Rights In Australia

Since European colonisation in 1788, Indigenous people have been treated as second class citizens by the Australian Government. Furthermore, Indigenous Australians have struggled with land rights and in numerous other ways in Australian history. The lack of Indigenous rights was most evident before Federation in 1901.They slowly began to gain rights after Federation. The most significant changes were after the 1967 referendum, which aimed to increase indigenous equality, following. Historical evidence indicates that such changes were only possible due to the remarkable courage of a few. Indigenous Australians have struggled with their rights in many ways throughout Australian history. This occurred from 1788, upon arrival of the First
As a result of the Act, white Australians used Indigenous people for cheap labor and even as slaves. In 1871, the beginning of the catastrophic ‘assimilation policy,’ began, where an entire generation of were stolen from their families. The idea of the Assimilation Act was that children of Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander descent, were forcibly removed from their homes and taught to reject their heritage and adopt a white culture. This was done in an attempt to ‘breed out’ Indigenous Australians, through natural elimination. At this stage,Indigenous people had lost all freedoms, with the reintroduction of the Assimilation Act and a new ‘Half-cast Act.’ Despite all of the protests,the Government did nothing to give Aboriginals basic
The Mabo Case, which was finalised in 1992, was one event that had a large impact on indigenous rights. The case recognised the land rights of the Meriam people, the traditional owners of the Murray Islands. The case challenged two existing Australian legal systems; the assumption that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples had no concept of land ownership before the arrival of the British colonists in 1788 (terra nullius) and that sovereignty gave complete ownership of the land to the Crown. Another major event is the Gurindji Land Strike or Walk-off in 1966. The strike was by the Gurindji Tribe, directed by tribe leader Vincent Lingiari, who led 200 Indigenous Workers off their jobs at Wave Hill Cattle station, which lasted several years. Their complaints included, low wages and poor conditions but the main focus was land rights, which had been in action before in the 1946 Pilbara Walk-off. The ultimately successful Gurindji Strike is a significant moment in Aboriginal Land Rights movements. After the strike, land right activists rallied through the 1970’s, leading to the Aboriginal Land rights Act in 1976. Another momentous event for Indigenous Australians was the 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations. The speech was read by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, as he apologised to the families affected by this atrocity. The apology was the biggest broadcasted event in Indigenous history.