The National Tribal Council was formed at the thirteenth annual Conference of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) in Canberra in 1970. During the annual general meeting at the conference, two motions were moved by Convenor Barrie Pittock: the first was that the FCAATSI executive should consist only of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples; the second was that only Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples may exercise votes at the annual general meeting. Though the requisite two-thirds majority vote to accept the motions was not achieved, Kath Walker and Doug Nicholls called those who had voted in favour of the motions to meet separately after the conclusion of the meeting. The result was the establishment of the National Tribal Council. Less than three years later, with the election of the Labor government in late 1972 and the rise in popularity of grassroots Indigenous organisations, activism was directed at a local level rather than the federal level. The National Tribal Council is thought to have disbanded around this time.

Objectives - To promote the interests of Aborigines and Islanders and to preserve the cultures of the indigenous inhabitants of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands and to promote the Aboriginalisation of Aborigines and Islanders.

Publicists - Don Brady, Cheryl Buchanan, Sid Coolwell, Fred Gesha, Alice James, Steve Mam, Ada Rechendorff, Denis Walker, Kath Walker, Len Watson, John Whittaker.