2005

1. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is dismantled by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Amendment Act 2005 and replaced by a Commonwealth government-appointed advisory board.

2. The first official Sorry Day ceremony outside Australia is hosted in Lincoln Fields, London, on 25 May 2005.

3. The organisation Stolen Generations Victoria is set up as a result of the 2003 report of the Stolen Generations taskforce. Its purpose is to establish a range of support and referral services that will assist Stolen Generation peoples to reconnect with their family, community, culture and land.

4. The National Sorry Day Committee announces that this year, Sorry Day will be a 'National Day of Healing for All Australians' in an attempt to better engage the non-Indigenous Australian community with the plight of the 'Stolen Generations'.

5. Volume two of the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey is released. The report says that 12.3% of the carers of Indigenous children aged 0-17 in Western Australia were forcibly removed from their families. Compared with other Indigenous children, the children of members of the Stolen Generations are twice as likely to have emotional and behavioural problems, to be at high risk for hyperactivity, emotional and conduct disorders, and twice as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs.

6. 25 May Stolen Generations

   The first official Sorry Day ceremony outside Australia is hosted in Lincoln Fields, London, on 25 May 2005.

7. 10 December Stolen wages

   ANTaR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) organises a National Day of Action for stolen Aboriginal wages on Human Rights Day. ANTaR estimates that more than $1 billion in today's value was lost or stolen from Aboriginal families across Australia.

2006

1. Ben Wyatt (Australian Labor Party) is elected in a by-election to the Western Australian parliament for the electorate of Victoria Park. He is re-elected in 2008.

2. The Breaking the Silence report, commissioned in 2004 and covering only NSW, finds "massive" and "epidemic" child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities.

3. The first Stolen Generations compensation scheme in Australia is set up in Tasmania by the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Act 2006 (Tas). The Tasmanian government allocated $5 million to Aboriginal people who qualified for the compensation package.
   

   When she worked for this person at this property, her husband raped my mum and I was from that rape.

   — Marjorie Woodrow, Aboriginal woman ^[1]

4. 31 January Stolen wages

   Claims close for Queensland's Indigenous Wages and Savings Reparation scheme. It received less than half the number of claims expected by the government ^[2]. $35.87 million of $55.6 million was unclaimed.

5. 15 May Northern Territory Intervention

   An ABCTV Lateline program reports on the abuse of Aboriginal children in NT communities.

6. 17 May Sport

   Boxer Danny Green loses to Aboriginal man Anthony Mundine by points decision over 12 rounds. The fight remains one of the most watched bouts in Australian boxing history.

7. 31 May Conflict

   Victoria is the first state to formally recognise the sacrifice and service of Aboriginal servicemen during the inaugural Honouring Victorian Indigenous Returned Service Men and Women Shrine of Rememberance Service. The service is held each year since.

8. 13 June Stolen wages

   The House of Senate in the Australian federal parliament passes a motion, introduced by Democrats Senator, Andrew Bartlett, to conduct an inquiry into stolen wages. The submission deadline of 28 July is extended to the 28 of September. The enquiry receives 129 submissions.

9. 13 June Northern Territory Intervention

   Northern Territory's Chief Minister, Clare Martin, writes a letter to prime minister John Howard proposing a "holistic, intensive intervention to communities in crisis" but receives "no meaningful response". ^[3]

   Watch the second part of a speech she gave at the 19th Maurice Blackburn Oration on 5 December 2012, where she recollects the events (note especially at 5:10 where she talks about the reason for the intervention):

10. 22 June Northern Territory Intervention

    In response to the Lateline program the Chief Minister of the NT announces the government will establish an inquiry into child sexual abuse in NT Aboriginal communities.

11. 19 September Land & land rights

    A federal court ruling grants one of the nation’s largest native title claims to Perth and its surrounds (three times the size of Tasmania) to the Noongar Aboriginal people. The West Australian government instantly appeals the ruling.

12. October Stolen Generations

    The first Stolen Generations compensation scheme in Australia is set up in Tasmania by the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Act 2006 (Tas).

13. November Remains repatriation

    Natural History Museum, Britain agrees to return the remains of 18 Tasmanian Aboriginal people, but only after it conducted scientific tests on them ^[4].

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References