1949 Australian Citizenship Act 1949 gives Aboriginal people the vote in Commonwealth elections if they are enrolled for State elections or have served in the Armed Forces. Aboriginal men can legally vote in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and NSW, however, few Aboriginal people know their rights- so few vote.

1953 Atomic test, codenameed Operation Totem are conducted at Emu, South Australia. A black cloud passed leaving many Aboriginal people suffering radiation sickness.

1956 Operation Buffalo, another Atomic blast at Maralinga, South Australia.

1957 Operation Antler, atomic testing yet again at Maralinga, South Australia, the presence of Aboriginal people on the nuclear site is documented.

1958 Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines- later changed to Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, begins ten year campaign by both blck and white people to end discrimination in the constitution.

1962 In Western Australia Aborigines are given the right to vote in State elections Queensland follows in 1965.

1963 The Yolngu people of Yirrkala send two petitions to Federal Government. The petitioners unsuccessfully seek the Commmonwealth Parliament"s recognition of rights to their traditional lands on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Though the documents do not achieve the constitutional change sought they are effective in making way for the eventual recongnition of Aboriginal rights in Commonwealth Law.

1965. Freedom Rides- Sydney University students bus tour of NSW country towns to expose living conditions and discrimination against Aboriginal people. Assimilation policy is changed to that of Integration - Aboriginal people entering Australian society on their own terms and preserving as much of their culture as they choose.

1966 Arboitration Commission rules equal pay for Aboriginal workers in pastoral industry but defers it for three years. In August that year the Gurindji workers walk off Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory, camping in a make shift village in close proximity to the most sacred of their sites at Wattie Creek. Initially it is thought the Gurindji's demands are solely about improving conditions foe Aboriginal workers on the cattle station however their primary demand is for the return of their tribal lands.

1967 91% of Australian voters vote Yes in a Referendum to count Aboriginal people in the census and give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal people.

1969 NSW Aborigines Welfare Board abolished; Aborigines Advisory Council set up.

1970-71 Aboriginal Legal Service and Medical Service set up in Redfern, followed by Aboriginnal per-school, Black Theatre and the Aboriginal Housing Company.

1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy set-up outside Parliament House Camberra- adopts Aboriginal flag. Whitlam Labor Government is elected Abolishes White Australia Policy, sets up Department of Aboriginal Affairs and new policy of self-determination.

1975 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam hands back title to Gurindij people. Racial Discrimination Act 1975 is passed in Commonwealth Parliament.

1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 (NT) is passed by Fraser Government.

1980 Link-up NSW established to re-unite families of the Stolen Generations.NSW Parliament Select Committee inquiry into land rights for Aboriginal people.

1842 The land Act of 1842 sees the creation of reserves on crown land for the use of Aboriginal people. These reserves are created by the Government with the intention that Aboriginal owners would have continuing secure occupation over at least some of heir own country.

1845 About 50 Aboriginal famillies from the Sydney and Botany Bay area are living at a camp on Botany Heads.

1849 Land Commissioner McDonald reports widespread food shortages among Aborigines in the Murray District after their displacement by pastoralists.

1870 Riverstone Meatworks starts operating, in the District of Blacktown.

1874 The Maloga Mission is established as a refuge for the 9,000 surviving Aborigines in NSW.

1880 A Protector of Aborigines is appointed in NSW. The Protector has the power to create reserves and to force Aboriginal people to live on them.

1883 The Aboriginal Protection Board is established in NSW and takes over the administation of reserves. Aborigines at Maloga Mission on the Murray River are moved to Cumeroogunga. By the end of the 1880s several reserves have been established in NSW Reserves are set up far enough away from towns so that contact with Europeans is limited. Segregation is a key part of Aboriginal Protection Policy.

1901 Commonwealth of Australia formed. Aboriginal people are excluded from the census and the lawmaking powers of the Commonwealth Parliament. White Australia Policy bars 'coloured' immigrants and denies Aboriginal existence. Aboriginal people are excluded from the vote, pensions, empolyment in post offices, enlistment in Armed Forces, maternity allowance.

1909 Aboriginal Protection Act 1909 (NSW), gives the Board the power to remove Aboriginal children from their families.

1910 There are 116 reserves these are created as validation of Aboriginal occupation or in response to requests for land.

1911 The Aboriginal Protection Board ceases to defend tenure on reserves, and by 1915 is seizing reserve land to lease to whites.

1920s A number of organisations lobby for civil rights self-determination and abolition of the Aborigines Protection Board. The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed in 1925. The Australian Aborigines League and the Aborigines Progressive Associeation soon follow. Amongst other things, the League calls for self-sufficiency on land claimed by right or prior ownership.

1938 January 26 sees the first major political rally by Aboriginal people who gather in Sydney on Australia Day, calling for "Day of Mourning" and protest over discrimination against Aboriginal people.

1940 The Aborigines Act of 1940 introduces a new policy of "assimilation" the Protection Board is abolished and replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board. In the name of assimilation, the Board concentrates on the revocation of reserves and the relocation of residents into owns. This policy is opposed by white rural communities and leads to struggles over segregation. White residents refuse to sell land to the AWB thus denying Aboriginal people even a huose block in their own country.