1965: Vatican II Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes ('Joys and Hopes')
2022-12-07 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
“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 Modern World Gaudium et Spes was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 7 December 1965. Read an introduction to Gaudium et Spes here.

1992: Redfern Speech by Prime Minister Paul Keating
2022-12-10 00:00 - 23:59
“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 ignorance and our prejudice.” – Former Prime Minister Paul Keating, Redfern Speech, 1992

On 10 December 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered a speech to the large crowd gathered in Redfern Park for the launch of the International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It was a historic moment for Australia. In his speech, Keating explicitly acknowledged the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. It was the first time a prime minister spoke about the dispossession, violence and prejudice perpetrated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Read Paul Keating’s Speech Transcript via ANTAR’s website.

1948: Adoption of United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
2022-12-10 00:00 - 23:59
Celebrate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by reading a simplified version [PDF ] or the illustrated booklet of the Declaration, or watching the Declaration in sign languages.

1831: Founding of Sisters of Mercy by Catherine McAuley
2022-12-12 00:00 - 23:59
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 on Baggot Street opened in 1827. To give these efforts greater stability, Catherine and her co-workers founded a new religious congregation. On 12 December 1831, she and two others professed their vows as the first Sisters of Mercy. Before her death on 11 November 1841, Catherine founded convents and works of mercy throughout Ireland and England.

Source: Mercy International Association

1993: Passage of Native Title Bill by the Australian Senate
2022-12-21 00:00 - 23:59
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 to balance Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples’ rights to land, and sets out how native title rights and interests fit within Australian law.

1901: Enactment of Immigration Restriction Act (White Australian Policy)
2022-12-23 00:00 - 23:59
At the end of the 19th century, Australian colonies had concerns about who was migrating to Australia. With a rise in the number of migrants from China and the Pacific, many colonies passed tough immigration legislation. The Immigration Restriction Act was one of the first Commonwealth laws passed after Federation. It was based on the existing laws of the colonies. The aim of the law was to limit non-white (particularly Asian) immigration to Australia, to help keep Australia ‘British’. The ‘White Australia Policy’ was not fully removed until 1972.

1996: Wik High Court decision
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In The Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland & Ors; The Thayorre People v The State of Queensland & Ors [1996] HCA 40 (‘Wik’), the High Court held that native title rights could coexist on land held by pastoral leaseholders. The High Court decided that:

– a pastoral lease does not necessarily confer rights of exclusive possession on the pastoralist– the rights and obligations of the pastoralist depend on the terms of the lease and the law under which it was granted; – the mere grant of a pastoral lease does not necessarily extinguish any remaining native title rights– if there is any inconsistency between the rights of the native title holders and the rights of the pastoralist, the rights of the native title holders must yield.

1987: Pope John Paul II's encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis ('On Social Concerns')
2022-12-30 00:00 - 23:59
“Pope John Paul II’s 1987 social encyclical Sollicitudo rei Socialis marks the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio. Sollicitudo rei Socialis is also known by the English title On Social Concerns. It was the first major Catholic Social Teaching document to mark the anniversary of a social encyclical other than Rerum Novarum.” Source: Social Spirituality

Read an introduction to Sollicitudo rei Socialis

Read full text of Sollicitudo Rei Socialis

1901 Foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia
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1977 First loans offered by Grameen Bank
2023-01-03 00:00 - 23:59
The Grameen Bank was founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh. In 2006 he won a Nobel Peace Prize for this work.

The Grameen Bank, known as the ‘bank for the poor’, reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral. It created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. Yunus reasons that credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the over all development of socio-economic conditions of the poor. Find out more here.

1994 Native Title Act
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1994: Commencement of the Native Title Act

1946 First UN General Assembly Opens
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Fifty one nations were represented at the opening of the first General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946. You can find out about the resolutions of this General Assembly here.

1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy Established in Canberra
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1959 Pope John XXIII announces intention to convoke the Second Vatican Council
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Australia Day / Survival Day
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2021 Australia Day Reflection from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council

“We find ourselves pondering whether Australia will ever be the same after COVID-19? It might be more useful to ask whether it should be the same after the pandemic. Australia can continue to learn from the challenges of the virus and embrace the gifts of First Nation’s Culture to make it a better place for all.

Whilst we should be talking about these things all year, Australia Day is often the trigger for discussions around moving the date, what our Country stands for or changing the National Anthem. For the record:

– Yes, we should change the date to May 27 (the day that Australia voted to grant citizenship to us Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and to remove us from under the Fauna and Flora Act in 1967),

– Australia should stand for equality, respect, and compassion for all and,

– Yes, the National Anthem should be representative of all.”

Read more of NATSICC’s 2021 Australia Day Reflection here. Drawing on wisdom from the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in dialogue with Scripture and Catholic Social Teaching, it offers four recommendations:

1. After suffering together through the pandemic, Australians should forge forwards with humble hearts and a unity of mind and armed with a renewed sense of equality and care for one another.

2. Continue to empower and acknowledge the dignity and worth of individuals, created equally in the image of God, through the extension of assistance schemes and the provision of a living wage.

3. All Australians should acknowledge, in our actions and in legislation, that Elders/Old People are valuable and contributing members of society and that we are responsible to care for and love them – just as they did for us.

4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gifts, skills, and knowledge to be utilised for the betterment of First Nations Peoples and Australia as a whole.

“As we enter 2021 with a sense of hope and ‘rebirth’ we ask that, for the first time in post-colonial history, Australians stand together to lift one another up. Stand alongside the Traditional Custodian. Stand alongside the migrant striving for a better life. Stand alongside the grandmother that has lived through so much. We are much stronger, and much better when we are together.” 2021 Australia Day Reflection, NATSICC.

In 2019 the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) first publicly joined calls for the date of Australia Day to be changed. They explained:

The 26th of January 1788 was not a day of celebration for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people nor was it for the passengers upon the first fleet – a mix of prisoners and military personnel. Perhaps it is time that we rethink the date upon which our nation comes together as one to recognise and acknowledge the gifts that God has provided in our great southern land. For the past year, those that sit upon the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council have asked their community, peers, friends and fellow Catholics if they celebrate Australia Day. The resounding response was no. That answer was not followed by hatred or vitriol, it was simply that they felt it was not meant for them nor was it mindful of the hurt experienced by Australia’s First People. For many, the opportunity to spend the day with family and friends is appreciated and our people understand and respect the pride that some Australians have for the day, however the foundation of unity and inclusiveness is just not there.Celebrating our nation on a day that harbors grief, invokes painful memories and ignores the true history of our society just doesn’t make sense. Given that the day has been celebrated on various dates and under different names in the past 100 years, what will be lost by moving the date? National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council, 2019.

For Reflection

Key points from NATSICC’s statement:

A majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholics feel that Australia Day is not for them.NATSICC endorses the call to change the date of Australia Day and suggests 27 May as a starting point for conversation. A ‘True History’ educational program should accompany Australia Day to educate and promote understanding of the story of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Every Catholic School in Australia should teach this history. The next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are carrying lots of pain and anger because of things like Australia Day. Something must change!

1939 Cumeragunja Mission Walk-off
2023-02-04 00:00 - 23:59
In 1939 the Aboriginal people walked off Cumeragunja Mission in New South Wales in protest at living conditions and restrictions.

Cape York Peninsula Heads of Agreement Signed
2023-02-05 00:00 - 23:59

1973: Woodward Royal Commission into Land Rights
2023-02-08 00:00 - 23:59
On this day in 1973 the Woodward Royal Commission into Land Rights in the Northern Territory was established. The Central Land Council situate this event in its historical context here.

1965: Freedom Ride in Australia Begins
2023-02-12 00:00 - 23:59
A group of Sydney University students organised a bus tour through western and coastal New South Wales towns in 1965. As the National Museum of Australia website explains:

Their purpose was threefold. The students planned to draw public attention to the poor state of Aboriginal health, education and housing. They hoped to point out and help to lessen the socially discriminatory barriers which existed between Aboriginal and white residents. And they also wished to encourage and support Aboriginal people themselves to resist discrimination. The students had formed into a body called Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) in 1964 to plan this trip and ensure media coverage.

Charles Perkins, an Arrente man born in Alice Springs, who was a third year arts student at the university, was elected president of SAFA. The group included Ann Curthoys who would later write a history of these events, Jim Spigelman who would later become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Darce Cassidy, an arts student who was also a part-time reporter for the ABC.

Source: https://indigenousrights.net.au/civil_rights/freedom_ride,_1965

2005: Murder of Sr Dorothy Stang in Brazil
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2008: Apology to the Stolen Generation by the Australian Government
2023-02-13 00:00 - 23:59
On this day Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to Indigenous Australians, and especially the Stolen Generation, for past government policies of removing First Nations children from their families. The National Museum of Australia explains here how the journey to a national apology began with the Bringing Them Home Report.

Watch the apology in the video below.

2015: Death of Faith Bandler AC
2023-02-13 00:00 - 23:59
Faith Bandler AC, activist for Indigenous and South Sea Islander rights, passed away on this day in 2005. An obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald highlighted her achievements:

Faith Bandler changed people’s hearts and minds in support of human rights and social justice. Her smile, no doubt, helped. The National Trust listed her as a national living treasure in 1997 and the Herald, in 2001, included her among the 100 most influential Australians of the 20th century. The Good Weekend, in 2011, included her in a list of 50 women considered the most influential in the world.

Her greatest achievement was her 10-year campaign for Aboriginal rights leading to the 1967 referendum which changed the Constitution and included Aborigines in the census. She worked for Aboriginal education and housing, was a founding member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby and the Australian Republican Movement, campaigned for the rights of South Sea Islanders and wrote six books, including Wacvie (1977), a biographical novel about her father.

Read the full text here.

1958: Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders established
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2014: Murder of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati in offshore immigration detention on Manus Island
2023-02-17 00:00 - 23:59
Today we remember twenty three year old asylum seeker Reza Barati who was killed in riots at the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) on Manus Island. A Senate Committee inquiry later found that the Australian Government had failed in its duty to protect him, and other asylum seekers, from harm. Here is an extract from the conclusions of the Committee.

8.5 In summary, the committee has found that the events of 16 to 18 February 2014 at the Manus Island RPC were eminently foreseeable, and may have been prevented if transferees had been given a clear pathway for the assessment of their asylum claims. Many of the problems at the centre had their origins in the events of July to October 2013, when the centre was transformed from a mixed facility into a single adult males facility and experienced a massive influx of new transferees, reaching more than double the initial intended capacity of the centre in the space of approximately 12 weeks. The inability of the centre’s infrastructure to cope with this influx, combined with the complete absence of any clear refugee status determination and resettlement framework to deal with these asylum seekers, created an environment where unrest and transferee protests were the inevitable result. 8.6 It is clear from evidence presented to the committee that the Australian Government failed in its duty to protect asylum seekers including Mr Barati from harm. Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report

The Manus Island RPC was found to be unconstitutional by the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court in 2016 and was shut in 2017. A number of detainees were transferred to the Bomana Immigration Detention Centre.

In November 2019 a delegation of representatives from the Australian Catholic community traveled to Papua New Guinea to gain a deeper understanding of conditions for asylum seekers there. Read their statement here.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has made a complaint about the conditions of detention in Bomana to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

As SBS News report, Director of the jurisdiction, complementary and cooperation division of the ICC office of the prosecutor, Phakiso Mochochoko has found that the conditions of detention “appear to have constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Read more here.

1999: International Treaty to Ban Landmines enters into force.
2023-03-01 00:00 - 23:59
Find our more about the Treaty here.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) provides advocacy tools for campaigners, including multimedia resources, ICBL statements, partner resources, and the Landmine Monitor, to keep you up to date on the landmine issue.

1970: International Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
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1990: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission established
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2011: Fukushima Earthquake and Tsunami
2023-03-11 00:00 - 23:59
On this day an earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan killed 18,500 people. Damage to a nuclear power plant in this event caused widespread contamination and the displacement of thousands of people. Reflecting on these events, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan called for the abolition on nuclear power:

We, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, appeal to all people who share our common home called Earth that we join hands, rise together and act in solidarity to end nuclear power generation. For that purpose, we turn first to the Catholic Church throughout the world, seeking cooperation and solidarity. Then, building on that, we hope to develop a global solidarity that transcends religions, races and nations. Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan

1913: Founding of Canberra as Australia's captial
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2013: Election of Pope Francis
2023-03-13 08:00 - 17:00
