AustLit

'The Australian common law’s recognition of native title by the High Court in the Mabo case of 1992 signalled a ‘retreat of injustice’ from which no turning back seemed possible. This recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights as the first peoples of this land contrasts sharply with the history of the common law which was marked instead by a blatant infringement of human rights: the colonial parliaments and legislatures effected many discriminatory laws aimed at the ‘natives’, laws that were shaped by official policies such as segregation and assimilation. These laws would appear abhorrent in Australian life today: laws that prohibited the intermarriage and association between Aboriginal and white or Asian, laws that permitted the theft or removal of children from their mothers, laws that allowed for the ‘indenturing’ or slavery of men, women and children to the burgeoning pastoral and pearling industries.

'This paper surveys the developments following the 1992 recognition of native title by the common law, and also highlights the importance of Indigenous people’s fundamental claims to justice: sovereignty, self-determination and treaty.' (Introduction)