Page 16 - Indiginous Australians

Mary Alp
1985 saw the hand back of Uluru -Kata Tjuta - to traditional owners. This was a highly symbolic moment for land Rights with the Governor General Sir Ninian
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1993 saw Mabo Case which recognized the rights of the Meriam people to Islands in the Torres Straits. This 10 year struggle was a landmark decision by the High Court of Australia. It acknowledged for the first time the legitimacy of the continuous traditional Indigenous culture & occupation prior to Cook’s 1770 claim of ownership of the Eastern seaboard for the British Crown. This overthrew any notion of Terra Nullius – that Australia was vacant land before 1788 & as such was ‘waste’ land - which was the foundation of British claims to land ownership in
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Stephen handing title deeds to Anangu traditional owners.
Australia.
If we look at the reaction following this decision the reaction was
quite alarming. Conservatives such as Blainey, the mining magnet Hugh Morgan &
others, successfully used the press to build a fear campaign where many ordinary
citizens feared for their very own backyards. This backlash was hugely divisive &
lasted for over 15 years. (I was doing an Aboriginal research project across
Victoria at the time & met people worried about possible Aboriginal land
58 claims) .
1993 saw the Native title Act. ‘The Act passed by the Keating government attempted to clarify the legal position of landholders & the processes to be followed for native title to be claimed, protected & recognized through the courts’. It was amended by the Howard government in 1998 thereby placing some
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1995 saw Aboriginal Land Corporation formed by the Keating Federal Government to assist Aboriginal Australians to acquire land & to manage the said land – sustainably, culturally etc. for selves & future generations. This is funded by investment returns of the Government’s Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
56 Australian Government Parks Australia, ‘Uluru Handed Back ’. 57 Broome Ibid pp 284-290
58 R. Broome Ibid, pp285-287. (my essay).
59 Wikipedia, ‘Native Title in Australia’.
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restrictions on native title claims.