Humanities and Social Sciences — Civics and Citizenship

It is important to appreciate that, for tens of thousands of years prior to colonisation and Federation, the continent of ‘Australia’ was made up of many hundreds of distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander geo-cultural nations. In fact, according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, the terms ‘Country’ and ‘Nation’ are generally used to refer to these distinct geo-cultural communities, and not to the whole Australian continent or citizenship group. As the quote from the Hon Linda Burney above suggests, the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander geo-cultural communities and identities cannot be fully accommodated by non-Indigenous civics and citizenship constructs. Instead, this diversity is mirrored by customary protocols and laws, governance structures/systems, conceptualisations of ‘leadership’, and traditional languages to explain or express such perspectives and practices. These unique structures, systems and semantics have been informed by, and intricately intersect with, the physical Country on which living and learning takes place, and the Dreaming narratives and knowledges that are tied to it.  

Representing the oldest continuing cultures on the planet, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander conventions and conceptualisations regarding civics and citizenship are still very much alive and active. It is important to appreciate the resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures, particularly in the context of colonial threats to sovereignty, self-determination and fair civil participation more generally. Consider, for example, that colonial powers did not provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with the right to vote, or indeed be counted as citizens in the census, until well into the 20th century. Conversations around adequate recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their cultures – past and present – continue to this day, pushing for Australia’s First Peoples and cultures to be better valued as an essential part of our national identity. 

The example resources listed throughout the remainder of this guide may help to provide a positive platform for meaningful conversation and action around the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions to civics and citizenship in your classroom, and across Australia. 

This timeline chronologically lists some of the key dates in the more recent history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civics and citizenship, and in regard to the relationship between civics and citizenship and reconciliation more generally. 

60,000+ years ago

• The continent of ‘Australia’ comprises many hundreds of distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander geo-cultural nations, each with longstanding conventions and conceptualisations about civics and citizenship. 

1932

• William Cooper establishes the Australian Aborigines’ League. During the 1930s, Mr Cooper and leaders of the Aborigines Progressive Association gathers 1814 signatures on a petition calling on Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and King George VI to intervene ‘for the preservation of our race from extinction and to grant representation to our race in the Federal Parliament’. 

1948 

• The Commonwealth Nationality and Citizenship Act applies the category of ‘Australian Citizenship’ to all Australians, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, for the first time. However, at state government level, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people still suffer legal discrimination. 

1962

• The Commonwealth Electoral Act is amended to give the vote to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at Federal elections. 
   

1965

• University of Sydney students, including Charlie Perkins, launch the Freedom Rides, travelling around NSW by bus to draw attention to discrimination against Aboriginal people and to promote stronger recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civil rights. 
   

1967 

• On 27 May, more than 90 per cent of Australians vote ‘yes’ in a referendum to give the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the census. 

1971

• Neville Bonner becomes the first Aboriginal parliamentarian following his election as senator for Queensland. 

1972

• In January, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is pitched outside Parliament House in Canberra, campaigning for the recognition of Aboriginal land rights. 

1975

• The Australian Parliament passes the Racial Discrimination Act to help to ensure that Australians of all backgrounds are treated equally and receive the same opportunities. 

1976

• Patricia (Pat) O’Shane becomes Australia’s first Aboriginal barrister. Over the course of her lifetime, O’Shane has not only been recognised as Australia’s first Aboriginal Barrister but also the first Aboriginal female teacher in Queensland, the first Aboriginal person in the country to graduate in law, the first Aboriginal magistrate for the NSW Local Court and the first woman to head a government department. 

• The Australian Parliament passes the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth), leading to the establishment of land rights legislation in most Australian states in the 1970s and 1980s.  

1988

• The Barunga Statement, calling for self-management and land rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, is presented to Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who indicates his support for a treaty. 

1991

• The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is established. 

1992

• The High Court recognises native title in the landmark Mabo and others v Queensland (No.2) (1992) case, busting the legal fiction of terra nullius. 
   
• Prime Minister Paul Keating delivers the Redfern Speech, recognising the history of dispossession, violence and forced removal of Aboriginal children. 
   
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner position is created, with Professor Mick Dodson AM appointed to the position. 

1993

• The United Nations declares 1993 the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. 
   
• The Australian Parliament passes the Native Title Act. 
  
   

1995

• The Australian Government officially recognises the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. 

1998 

• National Sorry Day is commemorated for the first time on May 26. 

2000

• The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation delivers its final report to Prime Minister John Howard and the Australian Parliament at Corroboree 2000, leading to the set-up of Reconciliation Australia as an independent, not-for-profit organisation.  

2004

• The Commonwealth Government establishes a memorial to the Stolen Generations at Reconciliation Place
  in Canberra.  

2005

• National Reconciliation Planning Workshop is held; attended by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition 

2006 

• The Close the Gap campaign for Indigenous health equality is developed following the release of the Social Justice Report 2005. 

2008 

• Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologises to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Australian Parliament. 

2009

• Australia supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (Previously, Australia had been one of only four nations to oppose the Declaration.) 

2010 

• The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples is established. 

2011 

• The Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples leads wide-ranging public consultations, before delivering its findings in January 2012. 

2012

• The RECOGNISE campaign – to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution and deal with the racial discrimination in it – begins. 

2013

• The Australian Parliament passes the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Act 2013 to maintain momentum towards a referendum. 

2015

• The Referendum Council is established. 

2017 

• First Nation Regional Dialogues are held across the country between 2016 and May 2017 to discuss constitutional recognition with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Referendum Council organises for the priorities from each of the First Nations Dialogues to be reported to a First Nations Convention at Uluru. Out of this Convention comes the Uluru Statement from the Heart.  

• Teenager and Gumbaynggirr woman Aretha Brown is chosen by 60 peers as the first female Aboriginal Youth Prime Minister of Australia at the National Youth Parliament in Canberra. 

• Australia’s peak union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, establishes the First Nations Workers’ Alliance (FNWA). 
  
   

2018

• The ACT government has become the first jurisdiction in the country to recognise Reconciliation Day as a public holiday. The public holiday will be held each year on the first Monday on or after the 1967 Referendum anniversary date of 27 May, the start of Reconciliation Week. 
   

2019 

• The Coalition of Peaks enters a historic formal partnership agreement on Closing the Gap with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).  

• Mick Dodson starts as the inaugural NT treaty commissioner. He will lead treaty negotiations between Aboriginal people and the NT government and present a final report within 2.5 years.   

• A class action Hans Pearson took to the federal court in September 2016 on behalf of an estimated 10,000 Aboriginal workers in Queensland who had their wages stolen last century is settled with the state government for $190m.  

• Dujuan, a 12-year-old Arrernte/Garrwa boy from central Australia, speaks at the UN Human Rights Council demanding the Australian government to stop sending 10-year-old children to prison and support Aboriginal-led education models.  
  
   

2020 

• For the first time in Queensland’s history, three Aboriginal MP’s hold seats in the state's Parliament: Member for Bundamba, Gubbi Gubbi man Lance McCallum, Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch and backbencher Cynthia Lui. 
   

• Triggered by the death of George Floyd in the United States, tens of thousands of people join Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests across Australia to protest the deaths of Aboriginal people in police custody. 
   

• Victorian Greens members elect Gunnai-Kurnai/Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe as the new (and first Aboriginal) Greens senator for Victoria. Thorpe is an Aboriginal leader and activist and was previously the first Aboriginal woman elected to the Victorian parliament.  
  
   

2021

• Exactly four years after it was released, the Uluru Statement from the Heart is awarded the Sydney peace prize for 2021. 
   

• Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt releases the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process Final Report and announces the next steps to establish Local & Regional Voices. 
  
   

2022

• The government pays more than $20m to obtain the copyright to the Aboriginal flag and terminate commercial licenses owned by companies which had limited the reproduction of the symbol. Now all Australians can freely display and use the flag. 
   

• Linda Burney announced as Indigenous Affairs Minister, the first Aboriginal woman to hold this position.  
   

• In a landmark decision, the UN Human Rights Committee finds that the Australian government has violated its human rights obligations to Torres Strait Islander people by not acting on climate change. 

• The Referendum Working Group and the Referendum Engagement Group hold their first meetings in Canberra. The groups will work with the government on the next steps to a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution.  
  
   

2023

• The referendum question and constitutional amendment were announced by the Prime Minister on 23 March 2023 and were settled following consultation with the First Nations Referendum Working Group. The referendum question and constitutional amendment were set out in the Constitutional Alteration Bill that was passed by both Houses of Parliament on 19 June 2023. 

• On October 14 Australia voted to change Australia’s constitution for the first time in nearly half a century. Results showed the campaign was unsuccessful to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the country’s constitution. Immediately following the results, First Nations leaders called for A Week of Silence with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags flown half-mast to grieve this outcome and reflect on its meaning and significance. At the conclusion of this period an open letter shared collective insights and views with the Australian public and media.