Aboriginal Rights In Australia

The Rights and Freedoms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have changed and advanced in a variety of ways since 1945. All of these rights were created and evolved over nearly eighty years, up until this day. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are now happily considered to be a part of Australian population today, through years of oppression and discrimination.

The Freedom Ride in February of 1965 was one of the first and main changes to the Aboriginal rights and freedoms. Thirty four students of mixed race from the University of Sydney formed a group called the Student Action For Aborigines and traveled to towns all across the state of New South Wales. Along the way, the students faced a lot of violence and discrimination as they protested in their bus and in the many towns they were in. They stood and protested for hours and hours at segregated

Many polls were held in 1997, asking whether or not non-Aboriginal people should apologize for the acts of the Stolen Generations for sixty years in the twentieth century. A majority of people voted yes, and so the Prime Minister formally apologized with a heartfelt thirty minute speech from the Parliament House in Canberra, addressing all Aboriginal people, on February 12th, 2008. Rudd felt that that the Stolen Generations were getting older, it was the time to act. There was a heavily mixed response from all audiences in Australia, half of the people saying that the speech was influential, a good thing to do and that Kevin Rudd did the right thing. The other half, however, did not think that the speech was such a good thing, and gave a slightly negative reaction. Kevin Rudd 's sorry speech did heavily effect the freedoms and rights of Indigenous Australians, but also left a slightly negative feel towards the Aboriginals as