One of the most significant events in Aboriginal peoples struggle for rights in Australia was the Mabo decision in 1992. This event took away the myth of terra nullius from Australian law and would recognise rights that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the land and waters according to tradition. Thus, creating way for the legal recognition of native land titles (Loos & Mabo, 2013). This essay will explain the impact of the Mabo decision, what events led to this event and what impact this has on Australian people today.
The Mabo decision was a lengthy legal battle beginning back in 1982. One of the key elements of this was that Terra Nullius land did not belong to anyone during the time of the European Settlement
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Because of this, Aboriginal people found it difficult to claim ownership of land, as it did not adhere to British regulations. Eddie Mabo and two other members of the Merian people, commenced proceedings in the High Courts in refusing to be denied of their rights for native title and ownership (Crommelin,1993). They wanted declarations of the Murray Islands as, owners, possessors and as occupiers entitled to use and spend time on the islands (Commelin, 1993). Before mabo, earlier leaders of Milirrupum and Yolngu members unsuccessfully petitioned the parliament in Canberra to recognise their land ownership with a lease and project approval in 1965. This case however was rejected against on an eighteenth and nineteenth century treaty of supremacy who had obtained colonies around the globe (Commelin, 1993). It was then that Mabo successfully challenged the idea that Aboriginal properties were incapable of being recognised because of belonging to an inferior …show more content…
The Wik case, which first started in 1992, when the Wik peoples lodged a claim into the judicial system for certain areas of land in Northern Queensland. These claims were related to two pastural lease agreements (Mark & Clifford, 1997). Firstly, over 40% of sacred land was under lease from the government for agricultural development. Secondly, that the land was not being used for pastural purposes (Mark & Clifford, 1997). In June of 1996, there was an appeal to the High Court that was rejected. The High Court said that if native title could survive a grant of pastoral leasing, it would “fracture the skeleton” that gives Australia its land law shape ( Stevenson 1996). Furthermore, ruling that co-existent leasing would be recognised although pastoral lease would prevail (Stevenson, 2014). Additionally, this would also mean that aboriginals who were removed from these areas in the 60’s and 70’s could attempt to claim back their traditional land and that aboriginals who occupied the 42% of land mass would now be recognised as native title (Mark & Clifford, 1997). Although today the Wik decision does provide a challenge for government policy makers, this has provided a catalyst for agriculturalists to pursue the next step in improving tenure from having a leasehold to freehold. This became possible because of the success from the Mabo
In the 1971 Gove land rights case, Justice Blackburn ruled that Australia was terra nullius prior European settlement. This judgement was challenged for a total of 3 years but all attempts failed. However, on the 20th May 1982, Eddie Koiki Mabo and 4 other Indigenous people began their legal claim for ownership of their traditional lands on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait. The case was later taken to supreme court and after ten years, the case was closed and the government granted the indigenous people of australia their rightful land. Before this, Eddie had been helping his community from a young age.
The Aboriginals had original taught the early settlers how to trap and hunt about the land but in the documents associated with the deed and the land transfer, it was written that “Any claims of Indians too compensation for lands required for purposes of settlement shall be disposed of by the Canadian Government and the company shall be relieved of all responsibility in respect of them.”. Instead of the company leaving land for those who had aided them in the beginning. The singled them out due to racism and did not include them in any of the agreements between the HBC and the Crown in which they would receive land for themselves. This could have also contributed to the prejudice against the Aboriginals in future years because during that time period land was equal to power so those without land were treated as the poor and had no say. The deed also affected those who were against poaching and hunting.
They had their own traditional laws and customs and held a very strong and deep-rooted connection to their land. The British policy of the land being terra nullius, or “nobody’s land”, infringed the rights and customs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The concept of terra nullius robbed the Indigenous population of their right to have possession of their traditional and revered land. Mabo firmly believed it was not the white government’s responsibility to deny rights to traditional Indigenous land.
On 3 June 1992 the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in Mabo vs The State of Queensland, ruling that the treatment of the Indigenous property rights based on the principle of terra nullius was wrong and racist towards the Aboriginals. The court ruled that indigenous ownership of land has survived where it has not been extinguished by a valid act of government and where Aboriginal people have maintained traditional law and links with the land. This legal recognition of Indigenous ownership called Native Title. The court ruled that in each case native title must be determined by reference to the traditions and customary law of Indigenous owners of the land.
When the Europeans first arrived in Australia, Indigenous Australians lost all their land rights. This was mainly due to the Europeans claiming that Australia was Terra nullius. Terra Nullius was a international law stating that if territory was not owned, it was to be given to the first nation to discover it and entitled to take over. The Europeans did not recognise the Aboriginals and Torres Strait islander people as the traditional owners of Australia and therefore took all there land rights. The indigenous people were then constricted by the terra nullius rule from 1788 to 1991.
The government eventually passed the native title in which stated that the laws and regulation for the courts follows in future claims. This had all happened in 1993. Many non- indigenous people did not understand why Mabo had put so much effort into all this when it was just land. They did not realize the issue that Mabo was stating, butF why would the non-indigenous people see a problem.
“This is our land! It isn’t a piece of pemmican to be cut off and given in little pieces to us. It is ours and we will take what we want.” (voices and visions chapter 8 pg.181, poundmaker in the english tongue) The Cree and many Métis believed that the land was theirs and they were entitled to it.
Indigenous Australians had experienced a long history of dispossession, colonization, and marginalisation. The doctrine of terra nullius was used by the British to justify the of Indigenous lands, without recognising their traditional ownership or sovereignty. It was not until 1965 Indigenous Australians were allowed to vote, two years later 1967 Indigenous Australians were finally granted citizenship and in 1985 they were treated equal with other voters, ending almost two centuries of political exclusion. The Mabo decision is significant as it marked the first time the High Court explicitly rejected the doctrine of terra nullius and recognised the existence of Indigenous land rights. The case was named after Eddie Mabo, a Torres Strait Islander man who, alongside a group of Meriam people, challenged the Queensland state government with the Commonwealth and High Court to claim back their family land on Mer Island.
The Mabo Decision was the turning point for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights. Firstly, the Mabo Decision was significant because the decision was the lead up to the recognition of Aboriginal Rights. The Mabo Decision was the movement that made everyone fully recognise the Aboriginal people as humans, and official citizens of the country. The Decision also raised awareness to the discrimination the Aboriginal people were facing before the referendum.
“Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death” (What are human rights, 2017). Joyce Clague, born in 1938, is an inspirational and significant political activist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) peoples. During the 1967 constitutional referendum and native title reclamation of Yaegl she contributed to helping ATSI people regain their native land and be calculated in the census. Before the 1967 referendum, ATSI peoples were not ‘counted’ in the census and therefore were not given any government subsidy such as social security funding, pensions or child endowment funds that the white population received if they were unemployed or not making enough to afford to raise their family (Taffe, Miller, 1996). The people of Yaegl, a strip of land on the Clarence River, NSW did not have their native land and it took 20 years of political work to regain their native land
The Commonwealth was completely unprepared, and as the Mabo story gained traction, apathy started to fade away, knocking down any political policy the government had set out to conquer at the beginning of its term. On 3 June, 1992, the High Court of Australia rejected the doctrine of terra nullius and recognised Indigenous land rights for the first time. In doing so, the Commonwealth had admitted that the Indigenous peoples had lived in Australia for thousands of years, that their land had slowly dissolved into the colonies as they grew, underwriting the Australian identity. This lack
It was ultimately the success of Mabo’s case, which pushed through the change needed in Australia. The Motivations that pushed Mabo to fight for land rights Eddie Mabo thought that the best years of his life, came from growing up on Mer island, the island to him, was his safe place, away from the troubles of poverty and the xenophobic nature of the Caucasian culture of Australia, a place that was filled with a recognizable culture and language, a place where the community were caring and selflessly helped one another. On the island, life truly was a paradise, people didn’t need to worry about feeding each other, as the island provided that comfort, people didn’t need to worry about housing, as the land belonged to the people, or so they thought.
The Supreme Court had decided that the Indians could live on the land; however, they could not hold a title to the land. This was because their “right to own their land” was inferior to the settler’s “right to discovery.” The Indian’s wanted to own their own land because it was theirs to begin with; therefore, they thought this decision was
These claims are backed by evidence that Indigenous peoples lived and inhabited these lands for thousands of years before European contact. treaty rights, land claims, and governance are key to maintaining good relations between the government and the indigenous peoples of Canada. Treaty right agreements were made to promote harmony between colonists and indigenous peoples and to ensure the sharing of
Abstract Being an aborigine in a white dominated society is a complicated identity. Australia, one of the white governed nations, also owns many aboriginal tribes. They lived harmonious lives in the early period. But European colonization has made a profound effect on the lives of Aboriginals in Australia, which led to the total demolition of their native culture, identity and history. As a result the new generation Aboriginals have lost their Aboriginal heritage and have been accepted neither by Aboriginals nor by whites.