Native title

It is hailed as a momentous victory by the Indigenous rights movement. 1993: On November 16, the Native Title Act is tabled in Federal Parliament in response to the Mabo ruling. After 111 hours of debate, the longest in 92 years of Senate history, the bill passes. It recognises native title in situations where Indigenous people have maintained a connection with land and waters. Examine their overall experience in the 20th century: Throughout the 20th century the Indigenous people of Australia went from having no rights and being considered flora and fauna in the Australian constitution to gaining the native title act in 1993, which says that the Native title is a property right which reflects a relationship to land which is the very foundation of Indigenous religion, culture and well-being. The non-discriminatory protection of native title is a recognised human right. Although the Indigenous people of Australia finally get to vote in Australian elections and now have a native title act it doesn’t countermand the appalling actions that the white settlers and the people after federation did to the diminishing community of Indigenous…

longer then anyone could remember. He claimed they had lived in permanent communities and had their own political and social organisations in their community. The qld government began to try and take over the native Aboriginals way of life on mer island.But Mabo felt so strongly on this issue that he lead a court case trying to deny the government any chance of taking their land but the case also aimed to allow…

ownership and inheritance of the land (Reconciliation Australia, 2014). A lawyer overheard Mabo’s speech and approached Mabo if he would like to challenge the Australian Government in the court system to settle the issue on who are the rightful owners of the Land on Murray Island, Mabo agreed (Reconciliation Australia,). Mabo’s case went on for 10 years (Korff, 2015). On the 3rd of June 1992, The High Court ruled that the British Crown had gained a title to the land of Australia. The…

Hence, the Native Title Act created the national native title tribunal to distinguish land rights claims. Furthermore, in December 1996 there was another claim in high court regarding the land rights of indigenous people. With the appeal of Wik and Thayore peoples of cape work, the high court decided the native title can co-exist with pastoral leases. Henceforth, indigenous people have the right to practise their own traditions on hunting, fishing and camping on pastoral leases. However, these…

court decision was finally handed down in June 1992 five months after Eddie Mabo had passed away. Eddie Mabo had died on 21 January 1992. His Passion and hard work were recognised when he was selected as an Australian of the Year on January 26th 1993 by the Australian newspaper. According to Access and Justice 12e “All the Judges except Justice Dawson agreed that there was a concept of native title at common law. The nature and content of native law was determined by the character of the…

their legal claim for their land rights with the High Court of Australia. The case was know as the 'Mabo Case' as Eddie Mabo was the first named claimant. The legal doctrine of native title was inserted into the Australian law: 'In recognizing the traditional rights of the Meriam people to the islands in the Torres Strait, the Court also held that native title existed for all Indigenous peoples in Australia who held rights in their lands under their own laws and customs prior to the assertion…

they settled here, or whether it did/does in actual fact belong to the indigenous peoples. The High Court decided that terra nullius should not be applied to Australia, which was yet another huge turning point for the ATSI people as it recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights and acknowledged their unique connection to the land. This decision also lead to the Native Title Act of 1993 which further recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have rights to, and…

question, “at the time of the arrival of the British, did Indigenous Australians have sovereign power over their lands? If so, was the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’ which had been used to settle the continent incorrectly applied? Mabo v Queensland (No. 2) (1992) came out with an outstanding conclusion, held at a judgement by a majority of six to one, where the initial claim of terra nullius was invalid at the time of European settlement. The courts’ held that the doctrine was inutile and the…

the policies of Terra Nullius and Crown Land were seen as an unfair violation, and no representatives from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community decided to litigate it in court until Mabo and others from Murray Island took initiative. Eddie Mabo 's campaign for civil rights succeeded through legislation such as the Mabo Decision, Native Title Act, and the Wik Decision. Their campaign was highly effective in the way of Aboriginal civil rights; the Mabo case and its subsequent…

a part of Queensland, there were land title problems for the Islanders and the problems led the Mabo Decision. Traditionally, the Islanders have had strong connection to their land and the sea, for example, their myth and the hero stories relate to each island (Beckett 1983, p. 203). However, the annexation to Queensland actually meant the islands ‘became part of the British Dominions’ (Kidd 1993, p. 35). The land to be owned others, not Islanders, may have caused the Torres Strait people to…