Terra nullius

specimens collected by his companions Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. Cook followed the coastline northwards and on the 22nd of August landed at Possession Island (which is off the coast of Northern Queensland), where he believed the land was “Terra Nullius” and claimed the entire coastline from Botany Bay to Possession Island, British Territory. During this period, Britain was in the midst of great economic and social upheaval. The Industrial Revolution had displaced many people and…

From the onset of the invasion of Australia in 1788, supported by the claim that Australia was uninhabited land, ‘Terra Nullius’, a ripple effect of disadvantage began which resulted in intergenerational discrepancies in the educational outcomes of Indigenous Australians. However, the unequal outcomes of Indigenous Australians were, and often still are, attributed to the belief of Indigenous Australians’ inherent inequality to Whites. This is despite the fact that the systems established in…

To begin, I will explore how Worgan’s second letter utilises literary devices, allusions and symbolism to validate the noteworthy juxtaposition between the Europeans and Australians attitude towards the native landscape. This private letter, titled “From the Journal of a First Fleet Surgeon,” was written by an English naval surgeon George Bouchier Worgan, who accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. Written on the 12th June 1788, Worgan’s journal takes the form of a letter, addressed to his…

also inspired a lot of other groups to try and claim back their land.So much that it led onto two more major cases the first of these was the native title act. The native title act was passed in 1933 and it replaced a 17th century doctrine of ‘terra nullius’ that means (no one 's land) Captain cook reached this assumption as his belief of settled land had solid house with clear boundaries/fences the law was put in place by the early settlers the native title act was a massive leap forwards.The…

republic. The preamble was severely condemned by Aboriginal leaders because Howard did not consult them to draft it. McKenna highlights the impact of the Mabo decision on the republican movement. Indeed, the Mabo decision shattered “the spirit of Terra Nullius” drafted in the Australian Constitution and appealed for constitutional reform which would acknowledge the Aboriginal people and reveal the new reality of the Australian society. As McKenna wrote, “At the 1998 Constitutional Convention,…

The exclusion of Indigenous people from the nations constitution took place in the early nineteenth century. Henry Parkes the premier of the colony of New South Wales called for all six Australian colonies to unite and create a great national government for ALL of Australia. Parkes initiated a constitution based on common racial and British custom on which this nation was supposedly founded. Throughout her speech “Indigenous Exceptionalism and the Constitutional ‘Race Power’ Marcia Langton…

As the British claimed the land under their law terra nullius meaning land belonging to know one, they began to sell, grant and lease land to settlers. The Aborigines endured a fate similar to the Native Americans in the United States. The British settlements moved in and treated Aboriginals in the same manner…

Kevin Parlato Global Context William Strutt Painting “Black Thursday” Australia has a unique but dark past when it comes to its colonial history. Remnants of this past still linger as significant problems for the modern era. These problems expose themselves in many aspects of the Australian culture such as politics, social ques, and art. If a foreigner, such as myself, takes a look at Australian art, I take it in at face value. It would take lots of research to determine any cultural…

DARKINYUNG COMMUNITY PROFILE The Darkinyung people are the traditional land owners of the Central Coast, remaining on this land for over twenty thousand years. Darkinjung land spans from the Hawkesbury River at its Southern most point, up North to Lake Macquarie, and from Mount Yengo in the West, to its East along the Pacific Ocean (Empowered Communities, 2016, “Central Coast”). Recently released statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2011) reveal a total population of…

Andrew Fletcher claimed on behalf of the Empire in 1698 that “Conquest is not our interest.” This focus on trade was the result of both increasing demands for commodities such as tea, sugar, and tobacco, and gave rise to the Empire’s infamous terra nullius doctrine. This stated that it was a human right to take territory not being “properly utilised” by its inhabitants. It was the ideological justification behind the colonisation of North America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand by…