More than 500 Indigenous groups inhabit the Australian continent - about 750,000 people.
Captain Cook declares Australia terra nullius - nobody’s land.
The First Fleet anchors in Sydney Cove on January 26.
1800s - The Indigenous population is diminishing: mass shootings, people driven off cliffs, food laced with arsenic, frontier wars and the introduction of disease.
It’s estimated the Indigenous population has been reduced by 90%.
Australia officially becomes its own nation. Parliament introduces the White Australia Policy.
Indigenous people are referenced twice in the Constitution: to state they won’t be counted in the census and that they need “special laws”.
Many Indigenous children are forcibly taken from their families.
The Australian Natives Association (white Australian men) campaigns to make the Monday closest to January 26 a public holiday for Australia Day.
A ‘Day of Mourning and Protest’ is organised as Sydney celebrates 150 years of colonisation.
Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) organises a bus tour of outback NSW, uncovering racism in rural communities.
90% of Australians vote “Yes” to amend two parts of the Constitution that exclude Indigenous people.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is established on the lawns of Parliament House.
The Aboriginal flag becomes widely adopted.
Australians cease to be British subjects. Advance Australia Fair replaces God Save the Queen.
First Fleet is re-enacted for the bicentennial in Sydney. This is labelled as offensive and has not been allowed since.
Australians march together in Sydney to celebrate the survival of Indigenous people and culture.
The first national Australia Day public holiday.
Certain local councils try to change the date of their citizenship ceremonies. They are forced by the government to change them back. Some are even stripped of their rights to hold citizenship ceremonies.
Record numbers of people attend Invasion and Survival Day protests around the country.