Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved. Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.
Title: AUSTRALIA: 'NATIVE' LAND TITLES RECOGNISED -- WITH CATCHES
an inter press service feature
by kalinga seneviratne
sydney, jun 8 (ips) -- when the british crown made the australian
continent part of its empire 240 years ago, it declared it 'terra
nullius' or uninhabited. with that single phrase, the rights of the
indigenous people over their land were wiped out in an instant -- or
at least refused recognition by the new white settlers.
australia's indigenous people have been fighting for their rights
since then but it has only been in this century that some of those
rights have been slowly given back by the government.
last week, an australian court handed down a landmark decision
that said the indigenous meriam peoples of the murray islands off
the coast of queensland were entitled to possession, occupation, use
and enjoyment of their homeland in the torres straits.
the judgement ended a 10-year legal battle mounted against the
queensland government by the murray island community that sought
recognition of their 'native' titles. the decision was met with
jubilation by the murray islanders who staged an all-night dancing
and feasting party.
but while a few observers have hailed the decision as finally
quashing the 'terra nullius' principle that has justified the
dispossession of australia's indigenous peoples, some aboriginal and
island community leaders remained unimpressed.
''the case is restricted in application and offers no hope to the
vast majority of aboriginal people to assert their rights as the
true owners of australia,'' said paul coe, chairperson of the
national aboriginal and islander legal services secretariat.
he added: ''it is obvious that the only alternative for
aborigines is to accept the judgement that crown title cannot be
challenged within australian municipal courts and to continue to
challenge the title in the international fora.''
coe has called upon the australian government and the opposition
parties to join the aboriginal people in a reference to the world
court to give a decision regarding who rightfully owns australia.
''unless there is such a reference,'' he says, ''the judgement
will give white australia's title a respectability that it never
possessed and has not deserved.''
in the decision, the court overturned the common law that did not
recognise native title and that specified that any interest in land
had to be put in terms of ''property rights'', which followed
english law. (more/ips)
australia: 'native'
but the landmark ruling also recognised the power of state
governments to override otherwise legitimate indigenous claims
without paying compensation.
the court also ruled that for a claim to survive, a clan or group
must continue to observe customs and maintain a ''traditional
connection'' to the land.
bob weatherall, director of the foundation of the aboriginal and
islander research organisation, said that in effect the decision
enforced the concept of white supremacy. ''it's a big disappointment
because it means that, in the end, the people are still under state
and federal laws.''
critics have said that the restoration of the rights of
australia's indigenous people often come a little at a time.
just days before the murray island decision, australia celebrated
the 25th anniversary of the 1967 referendum that gave aborigines and
torres straits people the right to vote.
''twenty-five years ago, aborigines were not counted in the
australian census,'' said pat o'shane, the first aborigine to be
appointed a magistrate. ''animals, particularly livestock, were. the
australian government formalised the thinking that aborigines were
not only less than human, but lesser than animal.''
the situation for aborigines has improved since then said
o'shane, but she pointed out that their life expectancy is still 15
to 20 years less than the rest of australians. she added that
aborigine infant mortality rate is three times that of the rest of
society.
''those figures show that the quest for real citizenship -- an
equal share of this society's rich resources -- has a long way to
go,'' o'shane said.
last year, the federal parliament gave historic cross-party
support to a reconciliation process between the indigenous people
and australia's wider community. the decade-long programme to
educate non-aboriginal australians about their indigenous neighbours
is expected to lead into an adoption of a ''treaty '' in 2001.
human rights commissioner ron castan hopes the programme will
result in the proper recognition of the indigenous people. ''until
this is expressed in the constitution,'' he says, ''there is a
fundamental flaw in our whole constitutional system.''
(end/ips/ks/cb/92)