The Aboriginal Land Fund Commission

Prime Minister McMahon's 1972 Australia Day speech was a disappointment for land rights campaigners. However he did promise to buy back some land for aborigines whose country was not part of a reserve.

Later that year a Federal election brought a change of government after twenty three years of conservative rule.

The Whitlam Government introduced a new approach to land rights which included the establishment of an Aboriginal Land Fund Commission. This Australia wide fund was set up in 1974 and aimed to bring a measure of equality to all Aboriginal Australians.