Having a national identity is a way for all countries to show a sense of cohesiveness, as represented by distinctive traditions, values, and forms of behaviour. It can be seen as a character which binds the members of the society as one and differentiates them with others. As Benedict Anderson suggests, a nation itself is not given but rather constructed, by the style and ties in which the communities imagined, making them believe they are connected to one another. Australia, with its Aboriginal heritage and the past of being a part of Britain and is now labelled as multicultural, may have suffered from an identity crisis. Hence, by examining the myth of Terra Nullius and the Indigenous’ continuing struggles for land right recognition, this essay argues that the issue of land persists as fundamental in the construction of Australian national identity. The story of Australia would be incomplete without the histories of the peoples who inhabited the continent before the White settlement, before the British invasion that certainly broke the international law.
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Terra Nullius – an unoccupied and empty land, was the underlying doctrine Captain James Cook used to the land he “discovered” back in 1770 as a rationalisation for Britain to take the legal entitlement to its sovereignty and ownership. However, the European powers could claim and take possession of a certain area only if they had acquired the consent of the natives, while the Aboriginal People as the sovereign owners of Australia had never ceded nor encountered any sort of treaties with Britain. This naturally led to the dispossession and denial rights of the existing true citizens of Australia who had originally inhabited the land for many centuries. Britain, who regarded Australia as a desirable land, particularly as an economic resource, perceived the indigenous people as primitive, savage, inadequate proprietors of their own land, lacking the ability to fully utilise it. Thus, for the sake of keeping the myth of terra nullius alive, the Aboriginal people were excluded from the picture through physical and cultural genocides. Britain made it legitimate for the Indigenous people to be moved on, tortured, poisoned and even killed off by often deploying a vermin story as a justification for their inhuman treatments. Violence in myriad ways were ruthlessly practised by the invaders every day. During this period of time, “they spend most of their days raping women where they were then tortured to death” and “they buried (our) babies with only their heads above the ground and had a test to see who could kick the baby’s heads off.” These horrifying bloodshed activities eventually led to a rapid decline in the population of the Aborigines followed by their traditional society, beliefs and social customs that continued to weaken and decline as well. While the White invaders becoming truly settled and began to view the continent of Australia as ‘home’, the remaining indigenous people fought and are still fighting for their land and their lives. The spirit of terra nullius revolved around the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia’s constitution. …show more content…
Without recognising the sovereign rights of the indigenous society, the land was divided and structures were established arbitrarily. It took until one of the most significant cases throughout the history of the Australian nation called the High Court’s Mabo v Old decision took place in 1992 before the renouncement of the long-held legal notion of terra nullius where any pre-existing land rights must be recognised. To have finally been accorded the land ownership claims, the Aboriginal people seek access, ownership, use, possession and enjoyment to resources in the control of white Australia. In the face of continuing resistance, land rights movements began to emerge for Australia has long refused to give a genuine native title to its traditional owner. For the first time in history, 400 Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander leaders held a meeting and created a unified front to fight for their rights and interests over the issue of leases on their land in 1993. Even though the natives acquired a legal standing under the Mabo ruling, the Commonwealth remains to retain mineral rights to the land as well as lease it to mining companies. For that reason, these leaders demanded veto rights over any leases on their land, meaning that permissions shall be attained and that the content
Terra Nullius – an unoccupied and empty land, was the underlying doctrine Captain James Cook used to the land he “discovered” back in 1770 as a rationalisation for Britain to take the legal entitlement to its sovereignty and ownership. However, the European powers could claim and take possession of a certain area only if they had acquired the consent of the natives, while the Aboriginal People as the sovereign owners of Australia had never ceded nor encountered any sort of treaties with Britain. This naturally led to the dispossession and denial rights of the existing true citizens of Australia who had originally inhabited the land for many centuries. Britain, who regarded Australia as a desirable land, particularly as an economic resource, perceived the indigenous people as primitive, savage, inadequate proprietors of their own land, lacking the ability to fully utilise it. Thus, for the sake of keeping the myth of terra nullius alive, the Aboriginal people were excluded from the picture through physical and cultural genocides. Britain made it legitimate for the Indigenous people to be moved on, tortured, poisoned and even killed off by often deploying a vermin story as a justification for their inhuman treatments. Violence in myriad ways were ruthlessly practised by the invaders every day. During this period of time, “they spend most of their days raping women where they were then tortured to death” and “they buried (our) babies with only their heads above the ground and had a test to see who could kick the baby’s heads off.” These horrifying bloodshed activities eventually led to a rapid decline in the population of the Aborigines followed by their traditional society, beliefs and social customs that continued to weaken and decline as well. While the White invaders becoming truly settled and began to view the continent of Australia as ‘home’, the remaining indigenous people fought and are still fighting for their land and their lives. The spirit of terra nullius revolved around the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia’s constitution. …show more content…
Without recognising the sovereign rights of the indigenous society, the land was divided and structures were established arbitrarily. It took until one of the most significant cases throughout the history of the Australian nation called the High Court’s Mabo v Old decision took place in 1992 before the renouncement of the long-held legal notion of terra nullius where any pre-existing land rights must be recognised. To have finally been accorded the land ownership claims, the Aboriginal people seek access, ownership, use, possession and enjoyment to resources in the control of white Australia. In the face of continuing resistance, land rights movements began to emerge for Australia has long refused to give a genuine native title to its traditional owner. For the first time in history, 400 Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander leaders held a meeting and created a unified front to fight for their rights and interests over the issue of leases on their land in 1993. Even though the natives acquired a legal standing under the Mabo ruling, the Commonwealth remains to retain mineral rights to the land as well as lease it to mining companies. For that reason, these leaders demanded veto rights over any leases on their land, meaning that permissions shall be attained and that the content