National Aboriginal Conference
The National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) was a national organisation established to represent Indigenous Australians, that is Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The NAC was originally set up as the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee in 1973 by the Whitlam Government. Its members met for the first time in December 1973. The committee soon drew up a constitution with a new name for itself, the National Aboriginal Congress, though the name change was never accepted by the government. The Fraser Government reorganised the group as the National Aboriginal Conference in 1977.[1]
In 1979, it recommended a treaty between Aboriginal peoples and the Australian Government, using the Yolngu word "Makarrata" to describe this.[2] It was abolished by the Hawke Government in 1985.[3]
References
- ^ Quentin Beresford, Rob Riley: An Aboriginal leader’s quest for justice, (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2006), 122-3.
- ^ "What is a Makarrata? It's more than a synonym for treaty". ABC News. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ^ The Aboriginal struggle for justice and land rights, Kim Bullimore, Green Left Weekly, January 24, 2001