Noel Olive explains in the Australian Dictionary of Biography: "On 28 September 1983 several members of the Roebourne police force attended a meeting of the Western Australian Police Union of… Read More »1983: Death of John Pat in Roebourne Prison WA, prompting the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
"Gandhi constantly highlighted the gap between what we do, and what we are capable of doing. On this International Day, I urge each and every one of us to do… Read More »1869: Birth of Mahatma Gandhi
The first Sea of Hands was held on the 12 October 1997, in front of Parliament House, Canberra. Hands in the colors of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags… Read More »1997: First Sea of Hands, Canberra
On 19 October 2001, 353 people, mostly women and children, drowned on the high seas trying to reach Australia in a small, dilapidated, grossly overloaded fishing boat that would later… Read More »2001: Sinking of refugee boat SIEV X
On 26 October 1985 the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen, handed over title for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to the Traditional Owners of the area – the… Read More »1985: Return of Uluru to the traditional owners, the Anangu people
On this day the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board of Management decision to close the climb to the top of Uluru came into force. The Board is made up of… Read More »2019: Ban on climbing Uluru comes into force
One hundred years after the Battle of Pinjarra, someone writing under the nome de plume 'Cygney' recounted the story in The West Australian newspaper. What do you make of this… Read More »1834: Battle of Pinjara, WA
On this day in 1995, writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency. The country's military rulers ordered the execution of Mr… Read More »1995: Execution of nine Nigerian environmentalists and human rights activists
"On 11 November 1975, after a series of dramatic events including a 1974 double dissolution and a budgetary supply crisis, the Gough Whitlam-led federal Labor government became the first (and… Read More »1975: Dismissal of the Whitlam Government