Native Title , Mabo and Wik

Land Rights and Native Title

• In 1976 the Fraser Government passed laws to give Aboriginals land rights.

• This did not mean that Aboriginals got their land• The Law did not include States only Territories

Terra Nullius – No one’s land

• Captain Cook declared Eastern Australia to be the property of the British Monarch

in 1770 at Endeavour River, Queensland.• The land was assumed to belong to no one

TERRA NULLIUS• The Aboriginal people were completely

ignored.• Terra Nullius was the reason Justice

Blackburn denied the Yolngu claim in 1971

Eddie Mabo• Eddie Mabo was a Murray

( Torres Strait) Islander – • In 1982 Mabo took his land

case to court.• He claimed that his people

had been owners of their lands for at least 6000 years

• The case took 11 years• In 1993 the High Court

decided that Mabo’s people did own their land

• Eddie had died in 1992.

No more Terra Nullius

• Eddie Mabo died before the decision but his people now owned their land

• Terra Nullius had been abolished

• Native title is now available all over Australia

Mining and Pastoralists

• The Yolngu people began their land struggle against a mining company (Nabalco 1963)

• The Gurindgi people began their struggle against a pastoral (meat) company (Vesteys in 1966)

Money,Money,Money

• The Australian economy depends on mining and cattle raising.

• This is all done on Aboriginal land

• The problem of Aboriginal ownership , mining and cattle raising remained.

• The question was; Can mining and pastoral activity co exist on Aboriginal land?

The WIK decision 1996

• In 1996 the High Court decided that pastoral leases did not extinguish native title

• The decision established the principle of co existence

• Aboriginal people could own their land and negotiate with commercial companies to use that land.