Mabo
Native title
Wik
June 1992; High Court of Australia ruled in favour of Eddie Mabo’s action as he overthrew the concept of “terra nullius”
5 Indigenous plaintiffs followed Mabo from the Murray and Mer islands, they tried to re establish rights to land so the court decided that the land title of aboriginal and torres strait Islanders was recognised under Common Law
Meant that where indigenous people could show continuous occupancy of and connection with the land in accordance to their traditions, Native title could be said to exist unless it had been specifically extinguished by the crown
Judgement effect → reject “terra nullius:
Confirmed the long standing british law that indigenous peoples have right of ownership of their land and in this sense the decision granted no new rights for aboriginal people but recognised their traditional legal rights
Effect: opened the door for other aboriginal grousp to be able to claim ownership of the land that hhey could prove a continous connectino with the land.
NATIVE TITLE → communal or individual rights or interest of Aboriginals in relation to the traditional land; Aboriginals claim Native title based on dreaming stories, totem locations and elders original possession of land
→ Form of land title which recognises Aboriginal people as rightful owners of their traditional land. Use small letters (i.e. "native title") when referring to the concept in general and capitals (i.e. "Native Title") when referring to the legislation.
Since 1778 it was generally considered that australia was an empty piece of land owned by no one “terra nullius”
And so he first settled imposed the English law by force to remove the aboriginal people from the land with the full support of the law as they were not considered the legal owners of the land
After many years of protest and legal application in 1992 the High Court finally recognised that terra nullius was not an accurate description of the land the beginning of the modern land rights movement was connected to the wave hill mob who went on strike for better conditions on a NT cattle station at wave hill eventually lead to a dispute with the whitlam govt and passed the first land rights legislation in 1975 land rights legislation benefits a small % of people
The Mabo decision recognised that the earlier rights of aboriginals and torres strait islanders were the same as those of indigenous peoples from around the world
Native title Act was introduced in 1993 by the Keating government following the High Court decision effect*→ was to reduce rights of Aborigines and did this by validating land titles made in 1788 and illegal titles made in 1975 (white people land) advantage → gave aboriginal people a legal mechanisms to claim their traditional land by native title made through courts; however this was soon made more difficult by the howard’s government in 1998 effect → recognised the exitence of aborigna native title in ferderal law an native title land rights of aboriginal people
However, in order to claim .. cannot be owned by anyone → includes govt and individuals they must show a continuing connection with this piece of land since 1788 however ^^ was hard to prove as aboriginals don’t base themselves around written contracts due to their native and nomadic lifestyle
A very small portion and percentage of Australian land is owned by aboriginal people cause land is already owned by other people
insufficient
