Significant dates

On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and Indigenous assimilation.

For the last 10 years many thousands of Australians from every corner of the country, in schools, businesses and community groups, have shown their support for Close the Gap by marking National Close the Gap Day each March.

The aim is to bring people together to share information, and most importantly, to take meaningful action in support of achieving Indigenous health equality by 2030.

National Close the Gap Day in March is a time for all Australians to come together and commit to achieving health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Learn more about National Close the Gap Day.

National Sorry Day offers the community the opportunity to acknowledge the impact of the policies spanning more than 150 years of forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

The first National Sorry Day was held on 26 May 1998 following the 1997 HREOC report Bringing Them Home which recommended that a national day of observance be declared.

In 1967 over 90% of Australians voted in a Referendum to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

The Referendum also gave the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

National Reconciliation Week began in 1996. The week is a time to reflect on achievements so far and the things to achieve reconciliation.

National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to:

• focus on reconciliation
• hear about the cultures and histories of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• explore new and better ways of meeting challenges in our communities.
• learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements
• explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

The dates are the same each year: 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate 2 significant milestones in the reconciliation journey:

• the successful 1967 referendum
• the High Court Mabo decision.

Reconciliation should live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians. As we move forward, we are creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

In 2018 the ACT became the first state or territory to dedicate a public holiday to reconciliation.

Find out more about Reconciliation Week.

Mabo Day marks the anniversary of the High Court of Australia’s judgement in 1992 in the Mabo case. This is a day of significance for Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo’s name is synonymous with native title rights. His story began in May 1982 when he and fellow Murray (Mer) Islanders David Passi, Sam Passi, James Rice and Celuia Salee instituted a claim in the High Court for native title to the Murray (Mer) Islands in the Torres Strait.

The claim was made against the State of Queensland, which responded by seeking to legislate to extinguish retrospectively any native title on the Islands. This was challenged in the High Court on the grounds that it was inconsistent with the 1975 Racial Discrimination Act.

The High Court, in an historical judgement delivered on 3 June 1992, accepted the claim by Eddie Mabo and the other claimants that their people (the Meriam people) had occupied the Islands of Mer for hundreds of years before the arrival of the British.

The High Court found that the Meriam people were ‘entitled as against the whole world to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of lands in the Murray Islands.’ The decision overturned a legal fiction that Australia was terra nullius (a land belonging to no one) at the time of British colonisation.

This is a particular day of significance for Torres Strait Islander Australians. It marks the day the London Missionary Society first arrived in the Torres Strait. The missionaries landed at Erub Island on 1 July 1871.

Religious and cultural ceremonies are held by Torres Strait Islander Christians across the Torres Strait and on the mainland to commemorate this day.

For more information on NAIDOC, visit the NAIDOC Week.

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day and the week leading up to it, is a time to for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to celebrate the strengths and culture of their children.

The day is an opportunity for all Australians to show their support for Aboriginal children, as well as learn about the crucial impact that community, culture and family play in the life of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child.

Learn more about Children's Day.

The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed on August 9 each year to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. This event also recognises the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection.

It was first pronounced by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1994, marking the day of the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, in 1982.

Learn more about International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

Indigenous Literacy Day aims to help raise funds to raise literacy levels and improve the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated regions. We need your support to help raise funds to buy books and literacy resources for children in these communities.

Learn more about Indigenous Literacy Day.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly during its 61st session at UN Headquarters in New York City on 13 September 2007.

Learn more about the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.