Terra Nullius Role In Aboriginal History

Terra Nullius is Latin for the Ancient Roman of “land that belongs to no one”. This term is used in International law to describe any area or landmass that is not or has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state. The term Terra Nullius plays an undeniable large role in Australia history, both to the colonizing European and British settles and the native indigenous population.

In 1788 the colonization of Australia commenced. With the arrival of British and European settlers to Australia Terra Nullius was declared. With the declaration of Terra Nullius this meant that every that all native Aborigines to Australia no longer had the right to any land, animals and to a greater extent the very way that government themselves. There are
That meaning in areas such as Brittan or Europe history had been recorded in books and literature for future generations and important information, this was seen as not the case in Australia amongst its Aboriginal population. This can now be seen as fiction as much of Australia Aboriginal history is told and recorded through movement such as dance and the passing down of stories from generation to generation. The same can be said for the argument of representatives and politics. Although it is true that the indigenous population at the time didn’t have a universal legal system such as those found in more western cultures it is clear and evident that the land was divided into different areas, states if you will, and belonged to different clans. Not so different to country’s such as Scotland just a couple of century’s prior. Each tribe had its own laws governing its people, from punishments for crimes committed to interaction and political relations with other
But not just the country itself this also included all its natural recourse along with its plants, animals and now essentially its indigenous population. This would in term cause much conflict, debate and arguments both legally and politically in the future. One of the major issues that would eventually arise from this the decision of invoking Terra Nullius would be land rights. With Australia now being owned by the crown of Brittan the Aboriginal natives could fall pray to laws they didn’t even know about in relations to trespassing and hunting that they had never previously encounter. It wasn’t until Eddie Mabo took his case to court in 1981 stating that the Meriam tribe had “cultivated” the earth and there for Terra Nullius should never had been declared as cultivation is a clear sign of inhabitance and ownership of land. The Mabo cause showed that not only did tribes own and cultivate land but areas where also more privately cultivated and owned by families and individuals with clear property boundaries. In regard to the Mabo case the declaration of Terra Nullius was rejected but only so far as to state that the common law had fail to protect the Meriam tribe during the colonization of Australia. This means that the Meriam people were in tern given their land back however the decision of Terra