Timeline: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights and Freedoms Movement

Sorry in Sydney, National Sorry Day 2015 by butupa, Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Activity

Part 1: Know, Want to Learn, Learned

We are going to begin by watching a video – 40 years on from the 1967 referendum (2007) | Retro Focus | ABC Australia – that explores key events and perspectives related to this Aboriginal Rights and Freedoms Movement. Using the template provided, you will need to complete a ‘Know, Want to Learn, Learned’ (KWL) Chart to organise your knowledge and questioning.

You will be given time to complete the ‘Know’ and ‘Want to Learn’ sections before viewing the video. Following viewing the video you will be given to document what you ‘Learned’ before engaging in a class discussion to unpack the Civil Rights Movement for Indigenous Australians.

Part 2: Timeline of Key Events in the Indigenous Rights and Freedoms Movement in Australia

The Indigenous Civil Rights Movement correlates with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ fight to achieve recognition, equality, and justice within Australian society. Characterised by efforts to address past injustices, advocate for land rights and self-determination, and combat racial discrimination the movement continues in contemporary Australian society. Indigenous Australians and their allies continue to advocate for systemic change, cultural preservation, and a more inclusive and equitable Australia.

In this activity, you will work in pairs and become an expert on a key event in the Indigenous Civil Rights Movement in Australia. Each pair will create a poster that will unpack their key event which will contribute to the construction of a timeline that will chronologically sequence the movement’s social, political, and cultural impact on Australian Society.

Teacher’s note: Alternatively, this activity could be adapted to incorporate ICT using a collaborative platform such as Google Slides to create a live document that can be amended and adapted for future use.

Following the completion of your posters, we will come back together as a class and each pair will present to the class. Each presentation will conclude with 2-3 minutes of hot seat-style questioning time, allowing for students to clarify any confusion with their class experts.

Key Events:

Your poster should include information such as:

• Name of the event
• Date of the Event
• Detailed description of the event (100-150 words)
• Key contributors (social/political groups and leaders)
• Key legislation (if relevant)
• Detailed description of the social, political and cultural impact/s of the event (100-150 words)
• Find at least two primary sources (Newspaper articles, cartoons, interviews, photographs) that explore the diverse perspectives of the event.

Useful Resources:

See these examples from SBS (Timeline: Indigenous Rights Movements), the Australian Human Rights Commission (Track the History Timeline: The Stolen Generations) and the ABC (Timeline: Recognition of Australia’s Indigenous People) which provide you with a broad overview of the Indigenous Rights and Freedoms Movement in Australia. These might be useful guides for building your understanding of your event’s significance.

Other useful resources for locating primary sources include Trove (for newspaper articles) and the National Archives of Australia (legislation, photographs, interviews, manuscripts, propaganda).

Analysing Historical Sources: Civil Rights Movement for Indigenous Australians

Graffiti and debris on SAFA bus, 17 February 1965 – The Tribune, Courtesy of The Tribune, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Activity

In this source analysis activity you will critically examine and interpret historical sources related to the Indigenous Rights and Freedoms Movement in Australia. Historical sources can be visual, written or oral (or multimodal) which historians use to understand events of the past.

Working in small groups, this activity will help you gain a deeper understanding of significant historical events and develop essential analytical skills. Each group will be assigned one of the eight sources (below) and use the guiding questions to analyse the source.

After this activity, each group will have the opportunity to share their analysis with their class.

Sources

Source 1: Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights: Day of Mourning and Protest

Source 2: Tribune – Historic Ride

Source 3: Petition for a referendum to remove discrimination against Aborigines from the federal constitution

Source 4: Aboriginal Tent Embassy (1972) Aboriginal Embassy under a beach umbrella, Canberra, 27 January 1972. Left to right- Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bert Williams and Tony Coorey

Courtesy of The Tribune, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Source 5: The reasons why Mabo is not just another Land Rights Case

Source 6: Bringing Them Home Report, (Exerts) Written Testimonies

Source 7: Telling Our Stories – Our Stolen Generations (Florence Onus)

Source 8: National Apology 2008

Extension: 

Locate a primary resource related to the Indigenous Rights and Freedoms Movement in Australia and using the same source analysis guiding question (above), analyse your chosen source.

Useful Resources: (for locating your resource)

• Trove
• National Archives of Australia
• National Library of Australia
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Part 2: Reflection

After the source analysis and class discussion you are to answer the following questions:

1. What did you learn from analysing these historical sources?
2. How do these sources contribute to your understanding of the Indigenous Rights and Freedoms Movement in Australia?
3. Why is it important to study primary sources when examining historical events?