55 000 BC
Australia was inhabited as far back as 55 000 BC or even earlier (100 000 BC by latest reports) by its indigenous people.

7000 - 5000 BC
Earliest visible evidence of Aboriginal belief connected with the Rainbow Serpent. This becomes the longest continuing religious belief in the world.

1451 - 1900 AD
Trade with Asia - Dutch documents record trade between Macassan (Indonesian) sailors and Aborgines living on the northern coast of Australia.

1600s
Parts of the Australian coast become known to European explorers - Portugese, Spanish, Dutch, British and French.

1788
Britain established its penal colony in Port Jackson (Sydney).
Indigenous population: at least 750 000 although estimates range between 300 000 to 1 million

1790
Protectionist policies implemented, restricting Aborigines' right to free movement to specific areas such as reserves or missions. this is justified by the 'harmful effects' of contact with Europeans.

1819
A 14 year old Aboriginal takes first prize in an annual school examination, scoring higher than 100 white children, thus challenging myths about the mental capacity of Indigenous people.

1820s
'Black Wars.' The struggle for land between Indigenous groups and Europeans along settlement frontiers. Over 100 Aboriginals killed in the Bathurst massacre. other instances of bloodshed include Gravesend 1837: 200 dead; Waterloo Creek 1838: 100 - 300 dead; Long Lagoon 1840: 100 massacred, wiping out an entire community; Rufus River 1841: 30 dead.

1830s
Colonies are establlished based on british law and practices. no treaties are made with the original owners of the land. South Australia is proclaimed a colony in 1836 with the arrival of Captain John Hindmarsh. Despite the appointment of a protector for Indigenous people, the Kaurna community near Adelaide is almost destroyed by white settlement and dispossession.

1835
John Batman arrives at Port Philip Bay and attempts to make a 'treaty' with indigenous people. Blankets and goods are exchanged for 24 812 hectares of land. The 'treaty' is later declared void by Governor Bourke.

1850s - 1970s
The policy of removing Aborginal children is practised. At its peak from 1910 - 1970, between 1 and 3 and 1 in 10 children are forcibly removed from their families.

1851
The development of the system of pastoral leases. Governor Henry Young insists that all pastoral leases in South Australia should include reservations in favour of the Aborigines, allowing them access to pastoral lands. The law stated that if a "pastoral lesee did not recognise indigenous land rights" his lease would be revoked. Adeliade Historian, Dr Robert Foster expressed surprise at the uproar over the Wik decision "as though this was something new [...] Aborginal land rights in South Australia have been there since 1851. [...] The pastoral leases never set out to exclude Aborigines from the land. [...] Early pastoralists were never referred to as the owners, but as 'occupiers' of the land" (The Advertiser, 28/11/97)

1867 - 1868
All-Aborginal cricket team tours England.

1880
About 200 Aborginal children enrolled in public schools. In the 1900s, however, Aborginal schools are established following requests by the white community to exclude Aboriginal children from public schools.

1901
Federation. Indigenous people are not included in any census nor regarded as citizens, thus excluding them from civil liberties like Commonwealth voting rights, unless, as in South Australia, they already had the vote in State elections. Exceptions were Queensland and Western Australia where Indigenous people were specifically excluded.

1911
Aborgines Protection Act passed "to make provision for the better Protection and Control of the Aborginal and Half-caste Inhabitants." The Act effectively confines Indigenous people to reserves and bans them from towns.

1914 - 1918
First World War. Australian troops at Gallipoli, including Aborginal soldiers.

1920s
The national Indigenous population declines from at least 750 000 to around 60 000 - 70 000.

1936
Beginning of Assimiliation policies, later officially adopted by Native Welfare Ministers in 195. "Assimilation means, in practical terms, that it is expected that all persons of Aboriginal birth or mixed blood in Australia will live like white Australians do." In practice, assimilation policies lead to the destruction of Aborginal identity and culture, justification of dispossession and the removal of Aboriginal children.

1937
Pastoral expansion in South Australia reaches the boundaries of north-western Aborginal reserves. The associated problems are noted by Adelaide surgeon Dr Charles Duguid, who establishes the Ernabella Mission to serve as a buffer zone. Training and services are provided to equip remote Aborginals with inevitable increasing contact with white society.

1938
The Aborigines Progressive Association observed 150 years of European occupation by declaring a Day of Mourning and Protest.

1939 - 1945
Although Aborigines were not recognised as citizens, many enlisted in the Second World War, fighting - and falling - side by side with other Australians. They served in Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific and New Guinea.

1940s
Discrimination against Aborgines begins to raise community disquiet. South Australia's Premier, Tom Playford, writes to Canberra asking for maternity benefits and the old age pension for Aborigines. A Canberra public servant noted that "...this is the first occasion on which a State Government has interested itself in this matter."

1942
Darwin is bombed by the Japanese; Aboriginal people make up a special reconnaissance unit in defence of Australia

1951 - 1975
Korean and Vietnam Wars. Aborginal soldiers and nurses serve Australia in both the army and the navy. Korean veteran Stephan Dodd led the Adelaide Anzac March for a number of years.

1957
Formation of the Federal Council for Aborginal Advancement, and the National Aborginal Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC).

1960s
Beginnings of the modern land rights movement and the widespread awakening by non-Aboriginal Australians to Indigenous claims for justice. State Premier Don Dunstan argues for integration rather than assimilation and subsequently passes the Aborginal Lands Trust Bill (1966), the Prohibition of Discrimination Bill (1966), the Aboriginal Affairs Act Ammendment Bill (1966 - 67) and the Aborginal and Historic Relics Preservation Act (1965).

1962
The vote is extended to all Indigenous people.

1966
Charlie Perkins and Margaret Valadian become the first two Aboriginal university graduates. Charlie Perkins goes on to lead the 'Freedom Ride' protest against discrimination and living conditions.
Gurindji stockmen at Wave Hill (NT) walk-off in protest against intolerable living conditions and unequal wages. The strike lasts 9 years and culminates with some land being returned to the Gurindji people by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (1975).

1967
The Constitutional Referendum on Aboriginal Rights is held. An overwhelming 90% of the Australian population vote to eliminate sections 51 and 127 from the Commonwealth Constitution, 1901. Section 51 excluded "the Aborginal race in any State," whereby Indigenous people were rendered non-existent in relation to children, marriage, movement, property, receiving award wages and voting in State elections. Section 127 instructed that in population censuses, "Aborginals shall not be counted" ie. not just the rights of Indigenous people themselves were rendered non-existent. The watershed referendum allows the Federal government to take responsibillity for Aboriginal affairs and includes Aborigines in the census.

1971
Senator Bonner is elected to Parliament.
The Department of Aborginal Affairsis established.
Principals of schools in NSW are no longer able to exclude Aborginal children because of home conditions or opposition from the community.

1972
The policy of Self-Determination is adopted by the Government, replacing earlier policies of Protectionism and Assimilation. The change meant having a decisive voice and greater control over how to live now and in the future, including the right to cultural and linguistic maintenance and the management of natural resources on Aboriginal land.

1974
Justice Woodward of the Aboriginal land Commission delivers a report saying that "to deny Aborigines the right to prevent mining on their land is to deny the reality of their land rights."

1976
Census establishes the national indigenous population at 160 000.
The Aboriginal land rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 is passed. the most significiant land rights legislation in Australia, the Act transfers reserve land to Aboriginal ownership and administration to Land Councils. Laws are also enacted, primarily in Victoria, providing title to small parcels of land.

1976 - 1977
Sir Douglas Nicholls serves as the first Aboriginal Governor in South Australia.

1979
Coe vs. Commonwealth in High Court of Australia: unsuccessful challenge to the legal concept of terra nullius.

1981
First Aboriginal oral history course is launched at Macquarie University (NSW).
The Pitantjarra Land Right Act is passed. Anangu Pitantjatjara, a corporate body, is established under the Act to administer some 100 000km of land to the Anangu people.

1984
The Maralinga Tjartutja Land Rights Act is passed. Maralinga Tjartutje, a corporate body, is established under the Act to administer the Act some 80 000km of Maralinga lands.

1990
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commision (ATSIC) is set up as the main Commonwealth agency in Indigenous affairs.

1991
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report is presented in Parliament, detailing the lives and deaths of 99 Aboriginals in gaol.

1992
The High Court brings down a decision in the historic case of Mabo rejecting terra nullius as justification for ignoring traditional indigenous property rights. The Mabo decision held that Indigenous people of Murray Island in the Torres Strait were entitled to the land they and their ancestors had lived on. This meant that a form of native title existed. The decision also said that natve title had been extinguished by inconsistent grants such as freehold. Most private houses and backyards are on freehold land where a native title claim cannot succeed. The name of the case refers to the late Eddie Mabo, from the Murray Islands off Queensland, who fought the courts for 10 years but died before the historic decision was handed down.
The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is set up by the Commonwealth Government to foster better understanding between Indigenous people and the wider Australian community.
Prime Minister Keating delivers his "Redfern Park" speech at the launch of the International Year of the World's Indigenous People and acknowledges past wrongs.

1993
The landmark Native Title Act 1993 is passed to incorporate the principles of the Mabo judgement into Australian land law, overturning the myth that land belonged to no-one before British colonisation in 1788. The Act recognises the native title rights of Indigenous Australians who ahve maintained a 'continuing connection' with their land and waters.

1995
The Indigenous Land Corporation is established to assist with land purchase, title transfer and the provision of financial and management services.

1995 - 1997
The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families was held, culminating in 1997 in the report Bringing Them Home. The Inquiry concluded that forcible removal was an act of genocide, contrary to the convention on Genocide ratified to th Convention on Genocide ratified by Australia in 1949.

1996
The High Court brings down a decision in the cas eof Wik whereby pastoral leases can co-exist with native title rights. But in the event of any conflict between pastoralists and indigenous peoples, the pastoralists' rights prevail. As mentioned, the decision confirms what had been in place in South Australia since 1851. The name of the case refers to the Wik peoples from Queensland.
The Ten Point Plan is developed by the Government, outlining a proposed legislative response to the Wik decision.

1997
South Australian Premier John Olsen apologises to Aboriginal people for past wrongs, particularly the Stolen Generation: "I apologise on behalf of South Australians for the effects that the then Government policy had on the families and children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people [...] This sad episode has caused a scar on the face of this nation. [...] By apologising, I hope that we can now move forward."

1998
The new Native Title Amendment Bill 1997, an adaption of the Ten Point Plan, is passed by the Senate, thus becoming law.
Philip Ruddock is appointed Minister for Reconciliation, retaining his Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolio.