... decision in Mabo v QLD (No 2), the High Court rejected the doctrine that Australia was 'terra nullius', but held that Australia was a settled colony in which the common law recognised native title to land. Before 1992, the generally accepted legal position was that, at the moment when the Crown acquired sovereignty over land in Australia, that land became the property of the ... land survived the Crown's acquisition of sovereignty. The rights and privileges conferred by native title were unaffected by the Crown's acquisition of radical title, but native title was subject to extinguishme...

• Word Count: 2257
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 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

... , in Arnhem Land. The local communities applied to the High Court of Australia to stop the mining leases being granted. In the 150-page judgement it was decided that "communal native title" had never formed part of Australian law. In 1985, the Queensland government had passed the Coast Islands Declaratory Act, which stated that the islands in the Torres Strait, where Murray ... 1 that the Murray Islanders were entitled to possess, occupy, use and enjoy the Murray Islands. In its decision the court acknowledged that common law must recognise the concept of "native title" but the title cou...

• Word Count: 2831
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to access pastoral land for the purpose of visiting sacred sites and ceremonies _ Wik celebrate _ pastoralists angered, demanded federal government act to extinguish native title completely _ Queensland issued title and leases without following native title provision _ issue not sorted out by a Mabo/native title Act: _ John Howard sought to modify the Wik Decision by a ten point plan: _ Howard 10 point plan which claimed to be a compromise _ concerned ... of land _ allowed approval of Queensland government"s actions _ some leases give lease holders exclusive use of land _ local/state go...

• Word Count: 2422
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... them to practise their spirituality, which is a vital part of their lives. In December 1993 the Native Title Act was passed which put into law what the Mabo decision stated and made Native Title possible. Although the Mabo decision was quite important in regard to land ownership it did leave two issues ... crown land, in towns and cities, and over waterways and airspace. The 10 Point Plan helped with the drafting of the Native Title Amendment Bill, where there was no negotiating with any Indigenous Australians. Wik and Mabo are only two of the many cases regarding ... past has been fou...

• Word Count: 1002
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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

... Torres Strait. Mabo convinced the High Court that his people had at no time relinquished title and ownership of that land and as such their ownership should be fully restored. Mabo was the first Aboriginal man to win a court case concerning land rights issues. In 1993, the Native Title Act was established that recognised that Australia was not "Terra Nullis " at the time ... of European settlement. Therefore, the Native Title is the term used to indicate the rights of Aboriginal peoples to land and waters under Australian Law. In an action ... taken by the Wik people in December 1996 t...

• Word Count: 1408
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... legislative response to the decision of the High Court in the Wik case. In Wik, the High Court decided that the grant of a pastoral lease does not necessarily extinguish native title, ie that native title can co-exist with rights conferred to pastoralists under the terms of their leases. The Wik decision took away no rights from pastoralists. However, according to Wik, where there ... is conflict in the exercise of those rights, native title rights are subordinate to those of the pastoral leaseholder. The land rights movement is connected inextricably to the land based nature of Aborigi...

• Word Count: 713
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... 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

... , especially land rights. Land-rights acts were put forward by the Australian government in 1976, then again in 1993 (Native Title Act)which gave Aborigines certain property rights that in the past they were denied, forced to settle in compounds. The National Native Title Tribunal was especially groundbreaking in dealing with Aboriginal claims for land that they rightly believed was taken from them. This ... resulted in a lot of compensation being given to the Aborigines, but also indigenous land use agreements. These saw negotiations on land between native title-holders and the land use...

• Word Count: 1649
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to overturn the British declaration of Terra-Nullius or no man's land (Caldicott, 2002). Justice Moynihan's decision was that although Eddie Mabo was not the rightful heir to the land, native title did exist and that it was up to " the Aboriginal or Islander people to determine who owned what land" (Caldicott, 2002). Despite this progress towards and recognition of ... native title, land rights are still very much an issue today. The social movements for the rights of indigenous people were forged through numerous avenues. The land rights movement for example has ... ...

• Word Count: 1530
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... . Government housing has been allocated to some communities, and there is currently debate into the usage of sacred land, and more consideration is being given to native titles, since the Mabo and Wik cases, regarding the Native Title Act (1993), an act put together by the government to protect Aboriginal land. In Healesville, Dandenong and Frankston, three Aboriginal organisations have been granted money ... ...

• Word Count: 1082
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... white people. They believed them to be unable to act for themselves, so there therefore needed this kind of care. In 1993 the Native Title Act was created to make a legal process in which Aboriginal communities could attempt to claim title to their traditional lands. The act requires that those who attempt to make claims on the land must demonstrate a connection to the ... ...

• Word Count: 884
• Approx Pages: 4

... free. They also believed that natural resources might be claimed and a few believed that they didn't have the right to any land. The Mabo decision triggered the creation of the Native Title Bill. The bill set straight the details of the land ownership. The main feature of the law was to recognise land rights for people who own freehold property and also ... ...

• Word Count: 339
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... a concept that may be starting to touch all of Australia as demonstrated by the following occurrences. Recent legal and political decisions in this country (High Court Mabo Decision 1992 & subsequent Native Title Act 1993) show that Australia as a nation is at least beginning to formally recognise the importance of what the land means to Aboriginals. The fact that this has occurred in ... ...

• Word Count: 472
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate