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Terra Nullius
When the British first came to Australia they based their colonization on Terra Nullius. The British acted as if the land they were settling on was uninhabited which was against the rules of British colonization. There were three ways you could settle on land - it could be uninhabited where they can then claim ownership of the land. already inhabited where they could either negotiate permission or take over a country by invasion. -
The Yirrkala Bark Petition
Believed by many to be the beginning of the modern land rights movement. The Yolngu people sent a painted bark framed petition signed by 17 Aboriginal leaders to the Menzies government in protest of the authorized plans to allow the Nabalco mining company to mine bauxite on the Yolngu traditional land. -
Wave Hill Walk-off
Demanding for the return of their land and for better working and pay conditions, 200 stockmen and their families; lead by Vincent Lingiari walked off the Wave Hill Cattle Station. In 1975, Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam gave Lingiari back his land. -
Gove Land Rights Case
In 1968 the Yolngu people again challenged the Nabalco mining lease telling the Supreme Court of NT that they did not consent to the agreement, therefore, it was illegal. The idea of Terra Nullius was used in 1971 by Justice Richard Blackburn when he ruled the lease as valid by stating that the "doctrine of communal native title does not form and never has formed, part of the law of any part of Australia" -
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy which is still at the front of the Old Parliament House, was established in 1972 by Aboriginal activists in protest against the Supreme courts decision on the Yolngu peoples land rights case. -
Noonkanbah Protest
The Noonkanbah people protest against Amaz, an oil company as they were test drilling on their land. The start a petition against Amax sending Dicky Skinner to Perth as a representative as "These people have already made the place no good with their bulldozers ...They mess up our land. They expose our sacred objects. This breaks our spirit. We lose ourselves as a people." Though the WA Supreme Court still allowed tests to go ahead -
Uluru
Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen hands back Uluru to the Anangu traditional owners. Hundreds of both Indigenous and non- Indigenous people attended the ceremony as it was a significant event in the land rights movement. -
The Mabo Judgment
Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people sought recognition of their rights to Murray Island; including the surrounding islands and reefs, by the Australian legal system. For the first time in Australian law, the concept of terra nullius is overturned as it recognised the rights Aboriginal people had to their land with the High Court upholding the Meriam's people's claim. -
Native Title Act
The Native Title Act recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples right to the land. -
The Wik Decision
The case was on whether statutory leases extinguished native title rights. The high court of Australia decided that native rights could co-exist though if there was a conflict then the pastoral rights would extinguish the native title rights.
