Aboriginal Land Rights

Lecture 4Chapter 9

Native Australians

• Arrived about 40,000 years ago

• Arrived in 1788

Aborigines

Aborigines

Today about 500,000 individuals = 2.5% of population

Geographical distribution:• Northern Territory 32.5% of population

• Western Australia 4%

• Queensland 3.6%

• New South Wales 2.5%

• South Australia 2.3%

• Victoria 1%

Aborigines

Social problems:

• Inferior life expectancy– But higher birth rate

• Higher imprisonment rates – alcoholism, suicide, (domestic) violence

• Higher unemployment rate– poverty, lower education levels

Protest

• 26 January = Australia Day

• 26 January 1938 – Day of Mourning

• …this being the 150th anniversay of the whitemen’s seizure of our country …

Land rights

• Terra nullius = unclaimed not uninhabited– Explorers claiming land in the name of the English Crown– Squatters taking land from the Crown without paying for it– Leaving Aborigines with hardly any land

• Occupation = civilization– No recognizable land ownership delimitations

• Agriculture = making use of nature’s gift– Settlers using large spaces for pastoral activity (sheep)– Mining companies claiming further land

• Destruction of a race– Taking their land and their means of subsistence (=> desert)– Clash of two completely opposite views

Aboriginal vs. Anglo-Celtic culture

• Communal

• No social distinctions

• No political distinctions

• Close relationship with nature

• The lands owns the people

• individualistic

• Preferment and ownership

• Class privileges and distinctions

• exploiting and transforming natural resources

• The people own the land

From the 1960s onwards• 1967 referendum giving government the power to legislate

in favour of Aborigines

• 1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra

• 1973 multiculturalism

• Putting a stop to discrimination

• The issues of mining and land ownership

From the 1960s till 2008

Aboriginal lands

Integration or self-government

• What can Aborigines do with their lands?– Communities,

• What value do these lands have nowadays?– Mining, tourist attractions (Ayers Rock)

• What can be done to integrate Aborigines into society?– Education, occupation, …