1789

1. November Conflict

   Governor Phillip captures two Aboriginal men - Bennelong and Colebee. Colebee escapes but Bennelong is kept at Government House for five months.

1830

1. 24 November

   Bungaree dies. He came from the Broken Bay area and was a go-between in colonial Sydney where he was known because he liked to dress in military and naval uniforms given to him.

1963

1. November Dispossession Land & land rights

   Police evict residents at Mapoon, an Aboriginal community in far north Queensland. The people are forcibly taken to other reserves and their settlement is burned down, to allow Comalco mine the biggest bauxite deposit in the world.

1968

1. 6 November Arts Stamps

   

   First named Aboriginal person honoured on an Australian stamp. Artist Albert Namatjira appears on the Famous Australians issue. He was also the first Aboriginal person to be accepted as a citizen of the Commonwealth in 1957.

1971

1. November Protest

   During a ‘Smash The Acts campaign’ dozens of Aboriginal people march in Sydney to protest against protectionist acts which regulate many aspects of their lives.

1978

1. 3 November Land & land rights

   The Northern Land Council and Commonwealth Government signed the Ranger uranium mining agreement.

1982

1. 17 November Arts Stamps

   Australia Post issues a set of four stamps themed Aboriginal Culture in Music and Dance. It is the first time actual Aboriginal work appears on Australian stamps. All designs show bark paintings of Mimi spirits dancing. The artists are David Milaybuma (27c), Lofty Nabardayal (40c), Jimmy Galareya (65c) and Dick Nguleingulei-Murrumurru (75c).

   

1984

1. 7 November Arts Stamps

   The first stamp issue for the Australian Bicentennial shows Aboriginal rock art. It is interesting to note that the series is titled "First Australians" which only much later was agreed to be one of the appropriate terms for Aboriginal people. The first stamp introduces the bicentennial symbol. Australia Post also published a booklet with detailed explanations of the stamps called The First Australians: Our Heritage in Stamps (Australian Bicentennial Collection).

   The designs show stick figures (Cobar Region, NSW), Bunjil's Cave (Grampians, WA), Quirkan Gallery (Cape York, QLD), a Wandjina spirit with snake babies (Gibb River, Kimberley, WA), a rock python (Gibb River), a silver barramundi (Kakadu National Park, Alligator Rivers Area, NT) and a rock possum (Kakadu National Park).

   

   

1986

1. 29 November

   Pope John Paul II addresses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Blatherskite Park in Alice Springs.

2001

1. November Stolen Generations

   Pope John Paul II issues a formal apology on behalf of the Vatican to the affected Aboriginal families for the actions of any and all Catholic authorities or organisations in connection with the Stolen Generations.

2004

1. November Prison

   Mulrunji Doomadgee dies in a police watch house on Palm Island, 70 km north of Townsville in north Queensland. His death sparks violent riots during which the police station and officers’ quarters are burnt down. Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley is found guilty of causing Mulrunji’s death, but in late 2006 Queensland’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, opts not to prosecute him. In February 2007 the Premier Peter Beattie orders a judicial review of the case and Hurley is charged with manslaughter, the first time ever in Queensland
   that a police officer is charged over the death of an Aboriginal person. In June 2007 an all-white jury finds him not guilty. Hurley returns to work after having been suspended on full pay. An Aboriginal man, Lex Wotton, was found guilty on 24 October 2008 of “rioting with destruction” and sentenced to six years in prison.

2. 21 November Arts

   Casey Donovan, at just 16 years of age, becomes the youngest and first female winner of Australian Idol. She releases Listen to Your Heart a few days later.

2006

1. November Remains repatriation

   Natural History Museum, Britain agrees to return the remains of 18 Tasmanian Aboriginal people, but only after it conducted scientific tests on them ^[1].

2. 26 November Arts

   Jessica Mauboy comes second in the finale of the 4th season of Australian Idol, starting her singing career.

2007

1. 24 November Stolen Generations Northern Territory Intervention

   John Howard loses the federal election in a landslide (‘Ruddslide’) defeat against the Australian Labor Party’s candidate Kevin Rudd. Rudd promises to say sorry to the Stolen Generations and to consult with Aboriginal people.

2008

1. November Remains repatriation

   Charite Medical History Museum, Berlin, Germany. The museum's director announces his intent to return the skulls of 18 Aboriginal Australians taken to Germany more than 100 years ago. The Charite would be the first scientific institution in Germany to return remains.

2. 29 November Health

   Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting where state and federal heads announce they will contribute $806 million (federal) and $772 million (all states) into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health over the next four years, the biggest single injection of Indigenous health spending in decades.

2009

1. 1 November Northern Territory Intervention

   The Australian government misses the self-imposed deadline to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

   It is a simple matter to restore the [Racial Discrimination Act]. Where the [Indigenous Affairs] Minister [Jenny Macklin] appears to be stuck is in trying to find a way to reconcile her desire to over-ride the fundamental human rights of Aboriginal Australians in the NT through compulsory welfare quarantining and mandatory leases with our international obligations not to discriminate on the basis of race.

   — Rachel Siewert, Greens senator ^[2]

2. 16 November Politics

   The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says sorry to the Forgotten Australians which include migrants and Indigenous people who were victims of abuse in orphanages and institutions between 1930 and 1970. The Forgotten Australians suffered abuse similar to that suffered by members of the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal peoples.

3. 17 November Politics

   Marianne Mackay and Glenn Moore found the Aboriginal Political Party, where every candidate identifies as Aboriginal.

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References