Antinuclear

Aboriginal people the undisputed owners of their land

Noel Pearson and Indigenous Australia A Review of the Essay Collection Up From the Mission  Suite 101 Dec 16, 2009 Chris Saliba “…………When the High Court of Australia overturned the idea of terra nullius, it also stood Australia’s previously understood land title system on its head. It established that the Aboriginal people had been the undisputed owners of the land before white settlement. While this ruling would cause enormous controversy in Australia, freehold and pastoral titles would not be adversely affected in any way………………Here Pearson explains the challenges for native land title claimants:

“Non-indigenous parties to land claims can never lose any of their rights or titles, because these are indefeasible under the common law – and if they were ever invalid, the Native Title Act has now cured any invalidities. The only party that can truly lose in a native title claim is the Indigenous claimant. The non-indigenous parties – including the Crown – have nothing to lose, other than an argument to the effect that the Indigenous people have no entitlement.”

Noel Pearson and Indigenous Australia: A Review of the Essay Collection Up From the Mission

December 27, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News | aboriginal, Australia