National Wattle Day
2021-09-01 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
National Wattle Day has been officially celebrated since 1992.

“On 1 September 1988, Golden Wattle was declared officially as Australia’s national floral emblem. While Golden Wattle had long enjoyed that status informally – note its prominent place within the Commonwealth Coat of Arms dating from 1912 (frontispiece) and on the insignia of the Order of Australia – it had taken strong supporters of the emblem, notably Maria Hitchcock and also the Society for Growing Australian Plants (SGAP), to persuade the Federal Government to grant official recognition in the Bicentennial Year.” Rod Panter, Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Group, Updated 1997.

1991: Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act passed by Parliament
2021-09-02 00:00 - 23:59
Action

Does your parish, school or Catholic organisation have a Reconciliation Action Plan? Today might be a good day to check on your progress, or to start the process of developing a Reconciliation Action Plan.

What is Reconciliation?

ANTaR describe reconciliation as “a process where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, non-Indigenous Australians and Australian governments forge a new relationship based on mutual understanding, recognition and respect.”

The formal process of reconciliation had its roots in the establishment of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation which was established as a statutory authority on 2 September 1991 with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was disbanded in 2000.

In 2001 Reconciliation Australia was established as an independent not for profit organisation with the aim of inspiring and enabling all Australians to contribute to the reconciliation of the nation. Reconciliation Australia highlight five dimensions of reconciliation between First Nations people and communities and non-indigenous Australians:

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia’s colonial history is characterised by devastating land dispossession, violence, and racism. Over the last half-century, however, many significant steps towards reconciliation have been taken. Reconciliation is an ongoing journey that reminds us that while generations of Australians have fought hard for meaningful change, future gains are likely to take just as much, if not more, effort. In a just, equitable and reconciled Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will have the same life chances and choices as non-Indigenous children, and the length and quality of a person’s life will not be determined by their racial background. Our vision of reconciliation is based and measured on five dimensions: historical acceptance; race relations; equality and equity; institutional integrity and unity. These five dimensions do not exist in isolation, but are interrelated. Reconciliation cannot be seen as a single issue or agenda; the contemporary definition of reconciliation must weave all of these threads together. For example, greater historical acceptance of the wrongs done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can lead to improved race relations, which in turn leads to greater equality and equity. Reconciliation Australia

1936: Death in Hobart Zoo of the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity
2021-09-07 00:00 - 23:59
“On this day in 1936, the last known survivor of the thylacine species, better known as Tasmanian tigers, is said to have died in captivity in Hobart, Australia, having only been captured a few years earlier in 1933. It was renowned as the largest carnivorous marsupial to survive into the modern age, and now that it is extinct, this honour has passed on to its close relative, the endangered Tasmanian devil.” History Channel Australia

National Threatened Species Day
2021-09-07 00:00 - 23:59
“National Threatened Species Day is commemorated across the country on 7 September to raise awareness of plants and animals at risk of extinction. The day also celebrates the amazing work that is being done to save them by passionate conservationists, researchers, volunteers, and community experts.” NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment

1843: Battle of One Tree Hill near Toowoomba, QLD, between Aboriginal landowners and European settlers
2021-09-12 00:00 - 23:59
“In the early years of European settlement on the Darling Downs relations between the two races were mostly friendly. However, by the 1840s relations had turned sour. The European settlers did not understand the indigenous population’s deep spiritual connection to the land and so often treated their sacred sites (natural features of the land) poorly. This led to tension and soon conflict. The most famous and serious of conflicts on the Downs was the Battle of One-Tree Hill which took place on what is now known as Table Top Mountain.” Indigenous History | Toowoomba Region

1993: Death of Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker), Aboriginal poet, activist and artist
2021-09-16 00:00 - 23:59
Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, on Minjerribah (the Stradbroke Island). She was a poet, political activist, artist and educator. Oodgeroo Noonuccal means Oodgeroo of the tribe Nunuccal. Oodgeroo was a strong promoter of Aboriginal culture and a campaigner for indigenous rights.

As the Australian Women’s Register explains:

“Oodgeroo’s work has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal (1970), the Jessie Litchfield Award (1975), the International Acting Award and the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Award. She also held an honorary doctorate of letters (Macquarie University) and was awarded the degree of Doctor of the University from Griffith University. In 1970, Oodgeroo (under the name Kathleen Walker) was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) for services to the community. She returned it in 1987 in protest against the forthcoming Australian Bicentenary celebrations (1988). It was around this time that she reclaimed her traditional name, Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal Tribe.” The Australian Women’s Register

Action

Read Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poems about her experience of racism and dispossession. Has anything changed? Consider what you can do.

1959: Launch of Australian Consumer Association (ACA)
2021-09-23 00:00 - 23:59
The Australian Consumer Association is now known as CHOICE. It describes its aim as “to tackle the issues that really matter to consumers, arming them with the information to make confident choices and lobbying for change when consumers are getting a raw deal.”

It played an important role in the drafting of the Trade Practices Act, Australia’s first national consumer protection law. It also campaigned for the introduction of the Australian Consumer Law, which guarantees consumer rights today.

Find out more about the history of CHOICE

1872: Birth of David Unaipon, Aboriginal writer and activist
2021-09-28 00:00 - 23:59
What do you know about David Unaipon, the man on the fifty dollar note? He was a preacher, writer and inventor and was the first Aboriginal published author. David was born in 1872 on the Point McLeay mission in the town of Raukkan, just 80 km southeast of Adelaide. Find out more on the NITV website.

“David Unaipon first of all, forced Australians to accept Aboriginal intelligence then he forced them to consider the scientific knowledge of the world’s oldest culture. His legacy paves the way for younger Aboriginal people to unearth the Indigenous science Australia has buried beneath a ton of denial.” – Bruce Pascoe, Author Quoted in Luke Briscoe, in Remembering David Unaipon: the man on the fifty dollar note, NITV.

National Indigenous Television (NITV)

1983: Death of John Pat in Roebourne Prison WA, prompting the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
2021-09-28 00:00 - 23:59
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 Workers at Karratha. They adjourned to the local golf club for drinks, and then proceeded to the Top Bar of the Victoria Hotel at Roebourne. A brawl broke out between the off-duty police officers and a group of Aborigines, including Pat, a 16 year old Aboriginal boy who died of head injuries alleged to have been caused in a disturbance between Aboriginal people and Police… The circumstances of Pat’s death were investigated by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, established in 1987… Pat’s death became for Aboriginal people a symbol of injustice and oppression. The Aboriginal poet, Jack Davis, wrote John Pat (1988). The John Pat Memorial Day for Deaths in Custody is observed each year with a ceremony at the old Fremantle Prison.” Noel Olive, “Pat, John Peter (1966-1983)”, in Australian Dictionary of Biography

1975: Ratification by Australia of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
2021-09-30 00:00 - 23:59
“The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1966 was one of the first human rights treaties to be adopted by the United Nations (UN). The Convention is widely supported, with more than 156 countries (four-fifths of the membership of the UN) having ratified it. Australia ratified the Convention on 30 September 1975.” Australian Human Rights Commission – Guide to the Law

Anti-Poverty Week
2021-10-10 00:00 - 2021-10-17 23:59
Anti-Poverty Week was established in 2002 by the Social Justice Project at the UNSW, led by Professor Julian Disney. It was inspired by the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17) but expanded to include a full week in Australia to allow more participation.

The aim was to strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship around the world and in Australia; and encourage research, discussion and action to address these problems, including action by individuals, communities, organisations and governments.

Access resources for Anti-Poverty Week here. Register your own events here.

1997: First Sea of Hands, Canberra
2021-10-12 00:00 - 23:59
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 were signed by people to show their support for reconciliation and native title. At the time it was the largest public art installation in Australia.

The Sea of Hands movement has continued for over twenty years. You can book a Sea of Hands installation through ANTaR’s Hands Up! program.

2001: Sinking of refugee boat SIEV X
2021-10-19 00:00 - 23:59
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 come to be known as Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel (SIEV) X. There were 45 who survived the sinking, of whom seven eventually settled in Australia. SIEVX was the first major drowning incident involving asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat.

Eureka Street

1985: Return of Uluru to the traditional owners, the Anangu people
2021-10-26 00:00 - 23:59
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 Anangu.

The hand over and lease back ceremony was held in the Mutitjulu community near the base of Uluru. It was a night of singing and dancing for the Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal people. The celebrations marked a long struggle for Anangu to be recognised as the rightful custodians of Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the surrounding land.

AIATSIS Handback

2019: Ban on climbing Uluru comes into force
2021-10-26 00:00 - 23:59
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 a majority of traditional owners of the park. This date was chosen as it was the date in 1985 when the park was handed back to the Anangu people.

1834: Battle of Pinjara, WA
2021-10-28 00:00 - 23:59
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 1934 account of the battle?

World Teachers Day
2021-10-29 08:00 - 17:00

1907: Harvester minimum wage judgement by Justice Higgins
2021-11-08 00:00 - 23:59
“In 1907 Justice Henry Bourne Higgins, President of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court, set the first federally arbitrated wages standard in Australia. Higgins’s ruling became the basis for setting Australia’s minimum wage standard for the next 70 years. Using the Sunshine Harvester Factory as a test case, Justice Higgins took the pioneering approach of hearing evidence from not only male workers but also their wives to determine what was a fair and reasonable wage for a working man to support a family of five. The decision was a landmark case because, for the first time, employers were challenged to formulate wages on the basic needs of their employees rather than being solely concerned with the company’s profits.” National Museum Australia

Did you know?

Justice Higgins’ determination of a just wage was influenced by Pope Leo XIII’s definition of a just wage in Rerum Novarum in 1891. Leo XII says that “remuneration must be enough to support the wage earner in reasonable and frugal comfort” (n 34) and goes on to specify that wages must be sufficient to enable a worker to “maintain himself, his wife, and his children in reasonable comfort” and “by economy” be able to save and purchase property (n 35).

For reflection

Neither Justice Higgins nor Pope Leo XIII considered the role of women in the workforce or question of wage justice for women workers. How might the ideal of wages sufficient to support a family be enacted today in a way that recognises the right of women to participate in the paid workforce and the responsibility of men to share in unpaid family and community responsibilities?

1975: Dismissal of the Whitlam Government
2021-11-11 00:00 - 23:59
“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 only) government in Australian history to be dismissed by the Governor-General. While this constitutional crisis has overshadowed the Whitlam years, the administration left a lasting legacy of social and political reform.” National Museum Australia

For reflection

Which social and political reforms of the Whitlam era are you most grateful for?

What social and Political reforms do you think are needed today?

How might we answer Pope Francis’ call in Fratelli Tutti (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) for a ‘better kind of politics’?

1964: Passage of National Service Act by Australian Parliament
2021-11-24 00:00 - 23:59
An Act to amend the National Service Act 1951-1957. The National Service Act 1964, was an Australian federal law, passed on 24 November 1964, which required 20-year-old males to serve in the Army for a period of twenty-four months of continuous service (reduced to eighteen months in 1971) followed by three years in the Reserve. Date of Assent: 24 November 1964. Date of Repeal: 30 June 1992. Repealed by: Defence Legislation Amendment Act 1992.

Australian Parliament Legislation

For reflection

What do you know about the history of national service, conscription and conscientious objection in Australia?

How does national service relate to Church teaching about war and nonviolence?

1998: Award of the first Sydney Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus
2021-11-27 00:00 - 23:59
The Inaugural Sydney Peace Prize was presented to Professor Muhammad Yunus for his innovative work enabling the world’s poor to become independent through access to microfinance, and for his inspiring advocacy of view that poverty is the denial of all human rights and that peace is freedom from poverty. In 2006, Professor Yunus went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

1986: Meeting of Saint John Paul II with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Alice Springs
2021-11-29 00:00 - 23:59
“Dear Aboriginal people: the hour has come for you to take on new courage and new hope. You are called to remember the past, to be faithful to your worthy traditions, and to adapt your living culture whenever this is required by your own needs and those of your fellowman. Above all you are called to open your hearts ever more to the consoling, purifying and uplifting message of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died so that we might all have life, and have it to the full.“ Pope John Paul II, Address to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Blatherskite Park, Alice Springs, 29 November 1986.

Action

Visit the website of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council to learn more about St John Paul II’s visit to Alice Springs.

Read St John Paul II’s address and consider its call to you today.

1976: Appointment of Sir Douglas Nicholls as Governor of South Australia, first Aboriginal person to hold vice-regal office
2021-12-01 00:00 - 23:59
“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 office, when he became Governor of South Australia in 1976.” Aboriginal Victoria, Sir Douglas Nicholls KCVO OBE JP: A Trailblazer Who Won Hearts Around the Nation

International Day for Abolition of Slavery
2021-12-02 00:00 - 23:59
Slavery is not something from the past. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) more than 40 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery. ‘Modern slavery’ is an umbrella term referring to practices such as forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. These practices place people in situations of exploitation that they cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.

The Australian Government has enacted laws aimed at stamping out modern slavery, including by eliminating it from the supply chains of Australian businesses and organisations.

Action

Is your organisation required to submit a Modern Slavery Statement? Check out the guidance for entities that are required to submit such statements here.

Did you know that the Archdiocese of Sydney has an Anti-Slavery Taskforce? It provides education, guidance and advice to help Church entities to ensure that they are not unwittingly involved in modern slavery and to meet their legal reporting obligations.

Find out more about the United Nations’ celebration of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

2000: 350,000 people walk for reconciliation in Melbourne and Perth
2021-12-02 00:00 - 23:59
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 people those taking part were from all sections of the Australian community.

Importantly, the walks were not a protest but a peaceful demonstration that reflected a shift in the public mood and a growing awareness of the importance of reconciliation and a need for a national apology.

Walk for reconciliation, National Museum Australia

For reflection

Did you, or someone you know, participate in a walk for reconciliation? How did you / they feel that day? And how do you / they feel about action for reconciliation now?

Tewnty years later, how might we take up and support the Uluru Statement from the Heart?

2000: Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Final Report presented
2021-12-04 00:00 - 23:59
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 reconciliation.

Read the full report at the Australian Legal Information Institute.

1992: Redfern Speech by Prime Minister Paul Keating
2021-12-10 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.

1894: South Australian Parliament, the first in Australia to give women the right to vote
2021-12-18 00:00 - 23:59
On 18 December 1894 the South Australian Parliament passed the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act.

The legislation was the result of a decade-long struggle to include women in the electoral process. It not only granted women in the colony the right to vote but allowed them to stand for parliament.

This meant that South Australia was the first electorate in the world to give equal political rights to both men and women.

Read more about Women’s Suffrage here.

1993: Passage of Native Title Bill by the Australian Senate
2021-12-21 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)
2021-12-23 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.
