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The decision rejected the notion that Australia was terra nullius (i.e. owned by no one) at the time of British settlement, and recognised that Indigenous rights to land existed by virtue of traditional customs and laws and these rights had not been wholly lost upon colonisation. [3]
These customs are a rejection of the colonial idea of terra nullius, which was overturned by the Mabo decision in 1992. [3] [6] The Welcome to Country is a ritual performed that is intended to highlight the cultural significance of the surrounding area to a particular Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander clan or language group. [4]
Terra nullius (/ ˈ t ɛr ə ˈ n ʌ l ɪ ə s /, [1] plural terrae nullius) is a Latin expression meaning "nobody's land". [2] Since the nineteenth century it has occasionally been used in international law as a principle to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it.
The Native Title Act was passed following the High Court of Australia decision of Mabo v Queensland, [4] which recognised for the first time that Indigenous people had rights to land sourced from their continuing connection to it and that these rights are recognised under Australian common law. Where these rights had not been extinguished ...
The decision balanced the rights of the pastoralists and the rights of Aboriginal people, but placed the primacy of pastoral title over native title. Richard Bartlett argues that the decision placed great significance on the principle of equality at common law. [23] Philip Hunter notes that criticism of the High Court was "totally unjustified ...
National Native Title Tribunal definition: [3] [Native title is] the communal, group or individual rights and interests of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in relation to land and waters, possessed under traditional law and custom, by which those people have a connection with an area which is recognised under Australian law (s 223 NTA).
Ten years later, five months after Eddie Mabo died, on 3 June 1992, the High Court announced its historic decision, namely overturning the legal doctrine of terra nullius, which was the term applied by the British relating to the continent of Australia – "empty land". [62]
Edward Koiki Mabo (/ m ɑː b oʊ / MAH-bo; né Sambo) (29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992) was an Indigenous Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights in Australia, in particular the landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that recognised that indigenous rights to land had continued after the British Crown acquired ...