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The changing face of early Australia - Australia's Culture PortalEventually, the arrival of people from diverse societies created a cultural diversity that is now an integral part of Australian society and identity. Image courtesy of the Migration Museum, History Trust of South Australia. Migration Museum, History Trus...
Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people, issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. The portrayal of Indigenous issues and people in film provides a unique insight into Australia's relationship with its Indigenous peoples and...
UNESCO states that Indigenous populations number some 350 million individuals in more than 70 countries in the world, and that this represents more than 5000 languages and cultures. Today, many Indigenous peoples live on the fringes of society and are de...
Reconciliation is about unity and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. It is about respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and valuing justice and equity for all Australians. National R...
World Heritage-listed Fraser Island. However, Australia is actually made up of more than 8,000 islands, including the island state of Tasmania. Norfolk Island is located far off the east coast of Australia. ...
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Terra Nullius: the lie of the land - Desert Star (website Desert Dreams )Australia is fighting not only the most stupid and manipulative war in history in Iraq, but has its own internal war going on, known as the history war. They declared the land terra nullius, meaning "empty land" or "no man's land". Ironically, the revis...
This latter-day acknowledgment of human rights in international law was a very important influence on the High Court of Australia when it decided the Mabo Cases. In particular, the judges placed considerable weight on the International Law principle that...
In the Mabo case the High Court rejected terra nullius, but only to the extent that 'common law' had failed to recognise and protect the pre-existing land rights of indigenous Australians. However terra nullius remains in place as the basis in 'internatio...
The doctrine of terra nullius... 'Prior to 1992 and the Mabo decision, Murray Island and the Aboriginal rights in Murray Island were the same as the rest of Australia. The Murray islands were annexed to Queensland by imperial instruments and Australian i...
Written by Garth Nettheim and published in 'Australian Law News' (July 1992) 9-14 under the title '... those courts have jurisdiction to determine the consequences of an acquisition under municipal law.' Native title to land survived the Crown's acquisit...
Challenges - Terra Nullius... Firstly there was the established doctrine of terra nullius, which the courts had long defended, insisting on the legal fiction that before the English arrived Australia was a land belonging to no-one. © 2007 Film Austra...
In the 1992 High Court Mabo decision, Justice Brennan summarised the bases in International law by which territory might be acquired. They included conquest, cession or treaty, and occupation of territory that was 'terra nullius'. Occupying terra nulliu...
a legal fiction called terra nullius... The doctrine of terra nullius... Native title: a burden on the radical title of the Crown......
In International Law 'terra nullius' describes territory that nobody owns so that the first nation to discover it is entitled to take it over, as "finders keepers". To search for an answer to this question we must go back in time, long before Eddie Mabo ...
The British failed to acknowledge the prior rights of Aboriginal Australians possibly because they were seen as mere hunter-gatherers, who didn't cultivate the soil. Sir Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook, observed in his journal that eastern Aust...
Justice Brennan held that native title survived the Crown's acquisition of sovereignty over the Australian colonies. But, if this was the case, how could the Crown grant titles to settlers, or acquire land for its own purposes? And could the acknowledgm...
In 1788, after the First Fleet arrived, what was the status of this colony of New South Wales? Was it a 'settled colony', or something else? The position was unclear at first; not so much because of the nature of the Aborigines, but rather because of th...
The next proposition the High Court considered was this: Because English law took effect in Australian colonies from the start, should the rights of indigenous people under their own laws therefore be disregarded? Because, while land might be terra nulliu...
Despite developments in the law, and more critical attitudes to colonisation and empire, the international community of States is still unwilling to undo past takeovers, or to disturb existing national boundaries. And the High Court of Australia went out...
Following Justice Blackburn's decision, the question of whether the Common Law might recognise indigenous land rights was not entirely forgotten. A number of legal commentators criticised the Gove Land Rights Case judgment and decisions by courts elsewhe...
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