On this day in 1961 the West Papuan national flag, the Morning Star was first raised. Although the Netherlands' plans for West Papuan independence at that time did not come to fruition, the flag prepared for an independent West Papua continues to be a symbol of the desire for self determination and independence for the… Read More »1961: First raising of the Morning Star flag, West Papua
"A trailblazer who won hearts around the nation, the achievements of Sir Douglas Nicholls KCVO OBE JP are many and varied, taking in the fields of sport, politics and social justice. He broke new ground — as the first Indigenous Australian to receive a knighthood in 1972, and the first to be appointed to vice-regal… Read More »1976: Appointment of Sir Douglas Nicholls as Governor of South Australia, first Aboriginal person to hold vice-regal office
The Melbourne walk, starting at Flinders Street Station and finishing at King’s Domain gardens, drew as many as 300,000 people. The bridge walk and similar events across Australia were enormously important in showing that public sentiment was moving towards support for more concrete steps in the reconciliation process. Though the event was organised by Aboriginal… Read More »2000: 350,000 people walk for reconciliation in Melbourne and Perth
At the end of the year 2000, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation handed its final report to the national Parliament at a ceremonial event at Parliament House in Canberra. This letter contained in the full report provides an overview of the decade-long work of the Council and a way forward for the nation to achieve… Read More »2000: Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Final Report presented
Children all over the world know him and love him. In Germany, he’s Kriss Kringle. In France, he’s Pere Noel. British children call him Father Christmas. Of course, you know him as Santa Claus. He’s got another name - it’s an ancient one that goes back hundreds of years. It's one of the very first… Read More »Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)
"The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ." (#1) - Second Vatican Council, 1965 The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the… Read More »1965: Vatican II Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (‘Joys and Hopes’)
"It begins, I think with that act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion. It was our… Read More »1992: Redfern Speech by Prime Minister Paul Keating
Celebrate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by reading a simplified version or the illustrated booklet of the Declaration, or watching the Declaration in sign languages.
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1778. In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House of Mercy where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House… Read More »1831: Founding of Sisters of Mercy by Catherine McAuley
The Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA) is a law passed by the Australian Parliament that recognises the rights and interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in land and waters according to their traditional laws and customs. It established a process for claiming and recognising native title lands and waters in Australia. The NTA aims… Read More »1993: Passage of Native Title Bill by the Australian Senate