... Mabo and a group of Torres Strait Islanders who took the State of Queensland to court. Their case was that they wish the courts to pronounce that the Meriam people held native title over three Murray Islands - Mer, Dauar and Waier. Evidence was provided that supported the islanders" claim that the inhabitants of these three Murray Islands indeed had a class structure that ... case. The first being that the Queensland legislation was not in keeping with the Racial Discrimination Act (1975) and therefore void and the second being that the plaintiff's claim that native title was acknowledg...

• Word Count: 1393
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... High Court upheld that section 51(31) Australia was not a Terra Nullis when settled by the British in 1788. The Court said that native title could be possessed by people who contrived to use the land and where traditional connection with the land had been substantially maintained, but the ... Court also said that the crown grant which gave an interest in the land that was inconsistent with a native title claim, would extinguish that native title. The Court made it very clear that State and Territory Governments would be limited in the way that they might negotiate land ... tried to avoid...

• Word Count: 1458
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... is intense. This approach is an example of legal activism which attempts to recognise and apply the evolving values of contemporary society. The Mabo judgement is the basis of the "native title" rights to land of indigenous Australians. The legal principle of terra nullius was overturned by the decision. This also overturned with it 200 years of political and legal history of ... , yet the High Court still based in international law and the inconsistency with it. Although the limits placed on "native title" by the 1996 Wik decision still recognises the co-existing of indigenous and non-i...

• Word Count: 1774
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Mabo v. Queensland has caused much controversy amongst Australians. The decision that Australia was not a land belonging to no-one brought up many racial issues and created the Australian Doctrine of native title. These decisions have been called activist because they were not made abiding to the strict lines of the Constitution; instead these decisions were made somewhat creatively. Sir Lionel Murphy was ... Activist that was never afraid to be outspoken on important issues (Hocking 2000, date accessed 25 May 2001). His Racial Discrimi! nation Act 1975 was the core of the landmark nati...

• Word Count: 1578
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School