In December 1976 the federal parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. It was the first legislation in Australia that enabled First Nations peoples to claim land rights for Country where traditional ownership could be proven.
From an Indigenous perspective, land is not something that is earned by a few, it belongs to everybody or, more accurately, we belong to it. Aunty Munya explains, “Many Indigenous peoples the world over generally do not believe that anyone or anything can be 'owned', especially the land.”
This history of injustice has meant that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been denied access to basic human rights, such as rights to health, housing, employment and education. Did you know that there were over 250 distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages at the time of colonisation?
“Land is very important to Aboriginal people with the common belief of 'we don't own the land, the land owns us'. Aboriginal people have always had a spiritual connection to their land, and because of this connection many Aboriginal people will not leave their country.
1901. Aboriginal people are excluded from the vote, pensions, employment in post offices, enlistment in armed forces and maternity allowance. Federation - The Commonwealth Constitution states "in reckoning the numbers of people… Aboriginal natives shall not be counted".
The Aboriginal Land Rights Act, 1983 (ALRA) provides land rights for Aboriginal people in NSW.
In December 1976 the federal parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. It was the first legislation in Australia that enabled First Nations peoples to claim land rights for Country where traditional ownership could be proven.
On August 16, 1975, Gough Whitlam returned traditional lands in the Northern Territory to the Gurindji people. This brought an end to their long struggle to reclaim their traditional country. Since 1966, the Gurindji people had been on strike against Vestey's – the agricultural business occupying the land.
It is true that there has been, historically, a small number of claims that there were people in Australia before Australian Aborigines, but these claims have all been refuted and are no longer widely debated. The overwhelming weight of evidence supports the idea that Aboriginal people were the first Australians.
As Aboriginal people, they derive their identity and sense of belonging from their connection to the land. The ancestors taught the people how to live in the country, which they also referred to as the law. The countryside was and still is the first school for Aboriginals.
In some states, Aboriginal people still could not travel from place to place, control their own money, drink alcohol or marry without permission.
Under the laws of the Australian Government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were not included as citizens. Instead, in many cases they were treated as foreigners in their own land.
The land underpins kinship and community identity. The land defines community groups and language groups. Language groups are an expression of community identity. Aboriginal people do not own the land they are custodians of it.
Native title is inalienable, meaning it cannot be sold or transferred freely, and can only be surrendered to the Crown (or extinguished). However, there are some options for non-extinguishing leasing of native title lands. Recently native title rights and interests have been described in broader terms.
The First Fleet of British ships arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788 to establish a penal colony, the first colony on the Australian mainland. In the century that followed, the British established other colonies on the continent, and European explorers ventured into its interior.
Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) projections, the number of Indigenous Australians in 2021 was estimated to be 881,600. The Indigenous Australian population is projected to reach about 1.1 million people by 2031 (ABS 2019b).
There were between 300,000 to 950,000 Aboriginal people living in Australia when the British arrived in 1788.3 At that time there were approximately 260 distinct language groups and 500 dialects. Land is fundamental to Indigenous people, both individually and collectively.
Prehistory. It is generally held that Australian Aboriginal peoples originally came from Asia via insular Southeast Asia (now Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and have been in Australia for at least 45,000–50,000 years.
From 1788, Australia was treated by the British as a colony of settlement, not of conquest. Aboriginal land was taken over by British colonists on the premise that the land belonged to no-one ('terra nullius').
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights and interests in land are formally recognised over around 50 per cent of Australia's land mass. Connection to land is of central importance to First Nations Australians.
In the 1860s, Victoria became the first state to pass laws authorising Aboriginal children to be removed from their parents. Similar policies were later adopted by other states and territories – and by the federal government when it was established in the 1900s.
1969. By 1969, all states had repealed the legislation allowing for the removal of Aboriginal children under the policy of 'protection'.
The Doctrine of Discovery is a key premise for post-invasion government claims to legitimacy on and sovereignty over Aboriginal lands and territories. It was used not only by Spain, but also by former British colonies like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America to seize Aboriginal land.
On 27 May 1967, Australians voted to change the Constitution so that like all other Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be counted as part of the population and the Commonwealth would be able to make laws for them.