Land rights and Aboriginal voicesGary Foley and Tim Anderson*ThisarticleexplainsAustralianAboriginallandrightsasthejustclaimofalonghistorical movement, driven by Aboriginal voices of resistance to dispossession. ThelandrightsmovementdemandingthereturnoflandstolenfromAboriginalcommunities,orcompensationfordispossessiongrewoutofcivilrightscampaigns,stretchingbacktothebeginningofthe20thcentury.Nationallandrights claims grew in the 1960s and 70s, leading to a series of partial victories, butfor a minority of Aboriginal communities. Native title, on the other hand, is a non-Aboriginal accommodation. It offers a weak form of title to some communities, butthe extinguishment of claims for the vast majority. State responses usually mediatepopulardemands,butthenativetitleresponseisoftenmisunderstoodasactuallyrepresenting land rights. Nevertheless, the land rights movement has survived thenativetitleera,andthemorerecentattacksonexistingcommunitytitle.Recentadvances,forexampleinTasmania,demonstratethatstrongAboriginalvoicescandefend and extend land rights for Aboriginal communitiesIntroductionLandrightsarethejustclaimofalonghistoricalmovement,drivenby Aboriginalvoicesofresistancetodispossession,supportedattimesbynon-AboriginalAustralians,andfiercelyopposedbythemajorbeneficiariesofdispossessionthosecontrollingthegiantpastoralandminingcompanies.Thisopposition,combined with a narrow legal argument and illusions about the role of Labor, havecreatedmythsoverlandrightsin Australia.Nativetitlehasbeenwronglyequatedwith land rights, and the origins of those rights are often misunderstood. Indigenousland rights gain support from the first article of the International Bill of Rights: theright of a people to self-determination, to control their natural wealth and resourcesand to maintain their means of subsistence (ICCPR/ICESCR Art 1). This article aimsto set land rights in a proper perspective, and to explain the central role of Aboriginalvoices in the land rights movement.Aboriginal land rights (as native title) have been said to be a legal innovation of thecourts, a judicial revolution (Stephenson and Ratnapala 1993; Neate 2004); a heroicVolume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 83* Gary Foley is an Aboriginal activist and a lecturer in Aboriginal history at the University of Melbourne.Tim Anderson is an activist and a lecturer in political economy at the University of Sydney.AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 83initiative of a Labor Government (Watson 2002); and even a non-Aboriginal socialistconspiracy(HughesandWarin2005).Infact,thelandrightsmovementfromitsinceptionfromtheconcentrationcamps(missions)ofthelate19thcentury,throughitsrallyingpointinthemid-1930s,tothecontemporarystrugglefromthe1960s onwards has always been a claim by Aboriginal communities for the returnofancestrallands,orreparationfordispossession.Ithasbeenasustainedandhistoricactofresistance,inthefaceofthegrandtheftofthevitalassetsofallAboriginal communities. Led by black voices, that claim has also been firmly linkedto Aboriginal communities rights to economic and political self-determination. This article will discuss the origins of the contemporary land rights movement; thenew character of this movement in the 1970s; the betrayal of Aboriginal communitiesbyLaborinthe1980s;themythsofnativetitle;andthechallengesinbothunderstandinganddefendinglandrights.Thediscussionwilldemonstratethat,ateach historical stage, the creative force of the land rights movement has been a long,popularstruggleby Aboriginalpeopleandtheirsupporters.Ontheotherhand,ineachcasetheroleofthestatehasbeenreactiveandmediating,subordinatingIndigenouslandrightsclaimsunderadispossession-basedsystemofpropertyrelations.Thisprocessconsolidatedsomelandrightsclaims,butalsocausedregressions, including a renewal of dispossession under the doctrine of native title. Origins of the land rights movementThe Australian Aboriginal land rights movement of the late 20th century grew out ofcivil rights and equal citizenship campaigns, stretching from the 1920s to the 1960s.AsAboriginalcommunitycontrolgrewinthesecivilrightsorganisations,thedemandforthereturnoflandstolenfromAboriginalcommunitiestookacentralplace in the 1960s and early 1970s. There was a proliferation of campaigning, whichshookAustraliansocietyandledtoaseriesofpolicychanges.YetthebureaucratisationofAboriginalservicesandfundingdependencyslowedthesecampaigns in the 1980s. There are no clear dividing lines, but it might be convenientto talk of three phases, for the purpose of this historical overview: a civil rights andequalcitizenshipstage,fromthe1920stothe1960s;alandrightsandself-determinationphase,fromthelate1960stothe1980s;andcampaigninginthecurrent bureaucratic era of Aboriginal affairs.CivilrightsorganisationsbeganbeforeWorldWarI. A Sydney-basedorganisationcalledtheColouredProgressiveAssociation(CPA)hadbeenestablishedbyWestIndianandAfrican-Americansailorsandin1907and1908wasinvolvedinorganisingvariousfunctionsfor African-AmericanBoxerJackJohnson.Theywerejoined by NSW Aboriginal wharf labourers Fred Maynard and Tom Lacey. 84 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 84Duringthe1920s,theinternationalblack-consciousnessadvocateMarcusGarveyestablishedaSydneybranchofhisUniversalNegroImprovementAssociation(UNIA).GarveyhadestablishedUNIA in1914andusedconvertsamongAfrican,WestIndianandAfrican-Americansailorstocreatebranchesallovertheworld.AboriginalactivistsFredMaynardandTomLaceyjoinedtheSydneybranchofUNIA and,in1927,MaynardandLaceyfoundedthefirstAboriginalpoliticalorganisationofthemodernera,the Australian AboriginesProgressive Association(AAPA).CatalystsforthisformationwerethedramaticreductioninAboriginalreserveland,thetyrannicalpracticesoftheAboriginesProtectionBoardandanescalationinthetakingofchildrenfromtheirfamilies.TomLaceyspokeoftheemancipationofslavesintheUSA andCuba,whileFredMaynarddeclaredthatAboriginalpeoplearetheoriginalownersofthislandandhaveoverridingrightsabove all others (Maynard 2004).Until very recently, the AAPAhas been regarded as a Christian-oriented organisationby non-Indigenous Australian historians because of its motto, One God, One Aim,OneDestiny.Infact,thismottoisidenticaltoMarcusGarveysUniversalNegroImprovementAssociationsmotto.JohnMaynard,thegrandsonofFredMaynard,recently revealed the extent of Garveys influence on the AAPA(Maynard 1997). Thisresearchdispelsthelong-heldmisconceptionthattheearlyAboriginalpoliticalmovement was both unsophisticated and strongly Christian (or white) influenced. The AAPA wastobeasignificantinfluenceontheideasandactivitiesofthenextgenerationofactivistsandorganisationsthatemergedinthe1930s.BillFergusonwas aware of the AAPA, and said that they had been hounded out of existence bythepolice(Horner1994,27).DuringtheDepressionyearsofthe1930s,emergingactivists such as Jack Patten, Pearl Gibbs, Bill Onus, Doug Nicholls and Bill Fergusonwere involved with a camp of Aboriginal refugees and activists at Salt Pan Creek, onthe edges of metropolitan Sydney. This place was a crucible of political activity.InMelbournein1934,WilliamCooper,DougNichollsandothersestablishedtheAustralianAboriginesLeague(AAL).OtherpeopleofeminenceintheearlyAALincluded Shadrack James and Marge Tucker. White supporters in the AAL includedtrade unionist AP Bordeu, a collection of Christians and various individual membersoftheCommunistPartyof Australia(CPA).In1938,the APA andthe AAL wouldwork together to challenge white Australias celebrations of the 150th Anniversary ofwhite settlement. William Cooper declared the occasion a Day of Mourning and aprotestmeetingwasorganisedinSydney.ThisprotestwasthefirstsignificantAboriginalpoliticalactionofthe20thcenturyinthatitreceivedreasonablemediacoverage. Prime Minister Joe Lyons met a deputation of Aboriginal people.Volume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 85AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 85In organising the National Day of Mourning in Sydney in 1938, Jack Patten and BillFergusondemandedtheabolitionoftheAboriginalProtectionBoardsandanewdeal for Aborigines. With the slogan keep your charity, we want justice, Patten andFergusonpointedoutthatAboriginalpeoplecouldvoteinastateelection,butaracist regime deprived them of most citizens rights (see Ferguson and Patten 1938).They also demanded Aboriginal control of Aboriginal missions and reserves. Thesewere camps to which most Aboriginal people in New South Wales had been driven,bythe1880s,andwhichwereruledbywhitemissionmanagers(seeMiller1985;Goodall 1996).The APA campaigns sparked a revision of federal policy. The protection era begantobewoundup,butitwasreplacedin1937byabroaderpolicyofassimilation.WelfareBoardstookoverfromtheoldProtectionBoardsinthedominationofAboriginal life (Read 1982). One of the architects of the assimilation policy assertedthat the destiny of the natives of Aboriginal origin, but not of the full blood, lies intheir ultimate absorption by the people of the Commonwealth (Hasluck 1988, Ch 4).Nevertheless,inspiredbytheProgressiveAssociations,WiradjuripeopleatCumeragunja(NSW)walkedofftheirmissionin1939,demandingcitizensrightsandcontrolsovertheirownreserve(seeClark1972,10218;Goodall1996;andafictionalaccountinMarisandBorg1985,93135).Aboriginalandnon-AboriginalpeoplefromMelbournesupportedthegroupwithfoodandblankets,astheycampedinBarmahstateforest.In1940,inasimilaraction,WangkumatapeoplewalkedofftheirstationatBrewarrina(seeGoodall1996). Aboriginalpeopleswerestarting to reclaim their land, beginning with the mission stations and reserves.Post-WorldWarIIstrugglesfocusedonregainingcontrolofthereservesandaddressingracismincivilrightsandservices.In1946,therewasastrikeofAboriginal stock workers in the Pilbara area of Western Australia, where most of theIndigenousworkerswerereceivingnocashwagesatall.Thestrikeaffected6500square miles of sheep farming country. Aboriginal strikers were seized by police atrevolver point and put in chains. The Pilbara strike was supported by 19 unions inWestern Australia, seven federal unions and four Trades and Labour Councils. In theeast,BillOnuswasinvolvedinorganisingsupportforthestrikers.TheWesternAustralian branch of the Seamens Union placed a ban on the transport of wool fromstationsaffectedbythestrike,winningalmostimmediateconcessionsfromthepastoralists.ThePilbarastrikeinspiredIndigenousstockandstationworkersthroughoutregional Australiatoseekbetterwagesandconditions,andwaspartlythe inspiration for the legendary Gurindji action two decades later in 1966.IntheNorthernTerritory,on27November1950,AboriginalworkersinDarwinstagedawell-organisednativestrikeinDarwin.TheAboriginalworkershad86 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 86organisedthestrikethemselvesandthensoughtadvicefromtheNorthAustraliaWorkersUnion(NAWU).ThetwostrikeleaderswereidentifiedasamannamedLawrenceandastrikingpolicetrackernamedBillyPalata.Inmid-January1951,Darwin police dispersed an armed group of more than 50 Aboriginal strikers whoweremarchingonDarwin.LawrenceandBillyPalatawerearrestedandpolicerefusedtobailthetwomentoNAWUofficials,sayingthatas Aboriginesthemencould only be bailed to the Native Affairs Department or their employers (Tatz 1979;Gardiner-Garden 1999).Intheearly1950s,PastorDougNichollsformedtheVictorianAboriginalAdvancementLeague,withchurchbacking.TradeunionsalsobackedAboriginalstruggles. Councils for Aboriginal Rights were formed in each state capital thoughtheydidntlastlong(Horner2004).Then,during195758,a12-memberFederalCouncilforAboriginalAdvancement(FCAA,laterFCAATSI)wasformed,withthree Aboriginal members: Doug Nicholls, Bert Groves and Jeff Barnes. The FCAAsaims were equal citizenship rights, a decent standard of living, equal pay, educationand retention of the remaining reserves. However, within its first year the FCAAhadadoptedtheSydney-basedAboriginal-AustralianFellowshipscampaignforapetitiontochangetheAustralianConstitution(Horner2004),strikingoutoneprovisionthatretainedthestatespoweroverAboriginalpeople(s51(xxvi))andanother that did not count Aboriginal people in the Census (s 127).It took 10 years for success in the campaign to change Australias constitution. The1967 referendum passed that proposal with a more than 90 per cent vote, and was ahuge exercise in public education over Aboriginal civil rights (see Bandler 1989). Butthereferendumwasnot(asispopularlybutwronglybelieved)abouttherighttovote(thathadbeenguaranteed,forfederalelections,underanamendmenttoelectoral law in 1962), but rather allowing the federal government (and not just thestates)tolegislateandprovideservicesforAboriginalpeople.ThereferendumcampaignwassymbolicallyaboutabroadernotionofAboriginalcitizenship(Bandler1989;Sykes1989).Thecapacityofthefederalgovernmenttooverridethestatesremainsanimportantissuein Australianpolitics.Forexample,hadthe1967referendumnotbeenpassed,thenaccordingtotheConstitution,the1975RaceDiscrimination Act (Cth) could have been said to apply to all races except Aboriginalpeoples. In the meantime, in 1963, a group of Aboriginal peoples at Yirrkala (NT) presented abarkpetitiontofederalParliament,protestingtheexcisionofmuchoftheirlandand its delivery to a mining company. They said that the land in question has beenhuntingandfoodgatheringlandforthe Yirrkalatribesfromtimeimmemorial;wewereallbornhere(Wells1982,12728). A similarresistancewasbrewinginCapeVolume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 87AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 87York, where the Mapoon and Aurukun peoples were being moved from their landsbythefederalgovernment(withthehelpofmissionmanagers)tomakewayforaluminium companies (Mapoon People 1976). The early 1960s in Victoria had seen a dispute over the planned closure of Lake Tyersmission,underthepolicyofassimilation.DougNichollshadjoinedLakeTyerselders,includingLaurieMoffat,todemandcommunitycontrolofthemission.In1970, the Victorian Government finally handed the Aboriginal residents freehold titleto their reserve (Clark 1972, 21828). In 1965, Charlie Perkins was leading students intheFreedomRidesthroughcountryNewSouthWales,confrontingapartheidpractices in swimming pools, theatres and bars. In 1966 the Gurindji people walkedoff Wave Hill station, initially over a claim for equal wages from their British pastoralcompanyemployer,butthisbecameaclaimforthereturnofancestralland.TheGurindjisgatheredsupportfromAboriginalandnon-Aboriginalorganisations,contributing to the equal pay cases of the late 1960s (see Hardy 1968, Chs 8 and 10;Rowley1971).Tenyearson,theGurindjiclaimwaspartlymetwhentheLaborGovernment handed back some sections of their land. However, the Larrakia claim(inDarwin)didnotadvance,andtheYirrkalaclaimwasrejectedbythecourtsin1971 (Blackburn in Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd, 1971).Land claims expanded in the north and the south. These had not begun in the 1960s,but they began to intensify. Heather Goodall (1988, 18197) maintains a longer view,insistingthatAboriginalcivilrightsandlandrightsmovementshavebeenintertwined for many decades. However, the land rights movement of the late 1960swas developing a new national character.Black power and the Tent EmbassyFrom these moves in the Northern Territory, combined with intense mobilisation inthe major cities, came the modern land rights movement. The strongest voices wereinSydney,BrisbaneandMelbourne,wherethousandsofAboriginalpeoplehadmigratedinthelate1960s(FoleyinYAPA 1992,1721).ChickaDixonandKathWalker were demanding Aboriginal control of FCAATSI (the Federal Council for theAdvancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) against the resistance ofnon-Aboriginal members, such as future Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gordon Bryant and young Aboriginal activists were drawing on the black power movement inthe USAto launch their demands for empowerment. The black power movement (like the AAPAof the 1920s) drew its inspiration in partfromAfrican-Americanadvocates,andwasinfluencedbytheideasofMarcusGarvey, Malcolm X and the US Black Panther Party. It adapted these ideas to develop88 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 88aconceptoflandrightsthatwould,ifimplemented,enable Aboriginalpeopletodeveloptheirhomelandsintoeconomicallyindependentenclaves,thusenablingpeopletomaintaintheirculturalintegrityandexercisegenuineself-determination.ThewhiteAustralianmediacontinuedtofocusonwhattheyperceivedastheviolence and black racism of such a movement. Nevertheless, black power activistsdeveloped a whole new range of self-help organisations such as free legal services,medicalclinicsandhousingassociationsthatspreadacross Australiaoverthenextdecade (Foley 2005).In Sydney, there was an activist focus around the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairsin Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, and the Empress Hotel in Regent Street, Redfern. InMelbourne,thefocuswasinFitzroy,aroundGoreStreetandtheAdvancementLeagueCentre.BruceMcGuinesswasaprominentleaderoftheblackpowermovement in Melbourne, which argued that Aboriginal people were more likely toachievefreedomandjusticeforthemselvesbyworkingtogetherasagroup.VictoriasAboriginalAdvancementLeague,aswellasFCAATSI,wasbeingAboriginalised (Richardson 1969).Throughexaminationoftheobviousproblemsfacingtheseurbancommunities,afocusonlegalandmedicalissuesbecamecentral.Aboriginalpeople,especiallyyouth,were(andstillare)beingharassed,arrestedandjailed.In1970,volunteerlawyersinMelbourneandSydneywereorganisedintothefirstAboriginalLegalServices,ledbyactivistssuchasGaryWilliamsandPaulCoe.ThesegroupshadvolunteerlawyersworkingundertheguidanceofanAboriginal-controlledcommittee(Foley1991,5).Theseweretheforerunnersofcommunitylegalcentreswhich,togetherwiththeALS,gainedaccesstofederalfundsunderaLaborGovernment in 1973. Similarlyin1971,volunteerdoctorswereorganisedtocreatethefirstAboriginalMedicalServices.Intheirfirstfewyears,theseorganisationsoperatedonashoestring,withmainlyvoluntarylabour,andbecameanimportantactivistbase.The AMShadanethosofself-determinationthroughcommunitycontrol,paralleltothe ALS,andwasinitiallystaffedbyrosteredvolunteerdoctors,nursingsistersand Shirley Smith as Field Officer. Through the 1970s, almost 50 new health servicesweresetupandtheyalljoinedtheNationalAboriginalandIslanderHealthOrganisation(NAIHO).NaomiMeyersandjournalistJohnNewfongplayedimportantpartsinbuildingtheAMS,andlatertheNAIHO.ThesuccessoftheNAIHO led to a re-evaluation of Department of Aboriginal Affairs health programsin 1979 (Foley 1991, 412). Asimilar national coordinating body, NAILLS, was set upfortheAboriginalLegalServices.Othercultural,educationalandsocialorganisations grew. In the early 1980s under Kevin Cook, Tranby College in SydneyVolume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 89AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 89shiftedfromachurch-runtoanAboriginal-controlledinstitution.UnderBruceMcGuiness, Koori College began training health workers in Melbourne. SNAIC andLinkUp,organisationstohelpAboriginalchildren(takenawaybythestate)findtheir parents, came into existence in 197980 (Edwards and Read 1989).However,apieceofreactionarypoliticswastocatalysethemostsymbolicdevelopmentintheAboriginalmovementoftheearly1970s.PrimeMinisterMcMahonhadbeensounnervedby1971santi-apartheidactivismandthecourtconsiderationoftheGovelandclaimcasethatin1972hefelttheneedtomakeamajor statement on Aboriginal land rights. McMahon chose the highly contested andsymbolic day of 26 January (Australia Day to whites, Invasion Day to Aborigines)tomakehisstatement,inwhichherejectedthenotionofAboriginallandrights.Within hours of the Prime Ministers statement, black power activists from Sydneyhad established a protest on the lawns in front of Parliament House in Canberra. TheprotestwasdubbedtheAboriginalEmbassy,inanexpressionofalienationandrejection of the Australian Governments authority over Aboriginal people. TheAboriginalTentEmbassywastobecomeaturningpointforthelandrightsmovement. The activists said the embassy drew attention to the fact that they wereregardedasforeignersintheirownland.Governmentministersdescribedtheembassy as a type of apartheid, and tried to close it down. However, the embassyremainedforseveralmonths,andtherewasnolegalbasisforclosingitdown.InFebruary, embassy spokesman John Newfong (1972, 5) announced a five-point planfor land rights, involving the creation of an Aboriginal state in the Northern Territory,legaltitleandminingrightstoallreservelandandsettlements,theprotectionofsacredsitesandcompensationforlandthatcouldnotbereturned.InApril,spokesman Ambrose Brown (1972) noted: Weve achieved recognition just by beinghere.In July 1972, an ordinance was passed in the middle of the night to form the pretextfortwoviolentpoliceinterventions,involvinghundredsofpeopleandover20arrests (see the film Ningla A Na). It did not in fact close the embassy, which ran onfor two more years, and has been resurrected at different times over the subsequentthreedecades.TheAboriginalTentEmbassygaveavoicetoanewgenerationofAboriginalleaders(includingBobBellear,PaulCoe,GaryFoley,RobertaSykes,DennisWalker,BillieCraigie,GaryWilliamsandIsabelCoe)andbecameafocalpoint for the land rights movement. This was not about land that no-one else wantedor no-one else had claimed (as in native title), but rather about the return of stolenancestral land, or compensation for the theft of that land.Followingthemassiveattentiongiventotheembassy,theLaboroppositionwas90 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 90encouragedtomakepromisesto Aboriginalpeople. AsShirleySmith(MumShirl)putit:TheLaborPartywasjumpingupandmakingpromisesofwhattheycouldgive to Blacks if they got in at the next elections at the end of the year (Smith andSykes1981,11017).Infact,theLaborGovernmentinoffice(197275)movedverycautiously,establishingaDepartmentofAboriginalAffairs(DAA)andthentheWoodwardCommissionofInquiryintolandrights.TheDAA almostimmediatelycameintoconflictwith Aboriginalactivists.ThefirstMinister,GordonBryant,hadopposedthepushforIndigenouscontrolofFCAATSI(Foley2001).KevinGilbertnotedAboriginalcriticismsofthetermsofreferenceofLaborslandrightsCommission:thelackof Aboriginalrepresentationonandparticipationinitsdeliberation,thattheinquiry was to be restricted to the Northern Territory, that mineral rights would continueto be reserved to the Crown, the lack of consideration of their claims for compensation, andso on. [Gilbert 1977, 269.]A Billwaspreparedin1975butwasnotpasseduntil1976,underaLiberalGovernment,andaftertherightsofcommunitiestocontrolentry,thebuildingofroads,fishingandmininghadbeenfurtherwatereddown.Nevertheless,theAboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth) was widely recognised as asignificantstepforward(Gilbert1977,271).In1975,AboriginalSenatorNevilleBonner secured a Senate resolution on prior ownership and compensation: the indigenous people of Australia were in possession of this entire nation prior tothe1788FirstFleet[theSenate]urgestheAustralianGovernmenttoadmitpriorownershipbythesaidindigenouspeople,andintroducelegislationtocompensatethepeople for dispossession of their land. [Quoted in Harris 1979, Ch 1.]Landrightsagitationintheearly1970screatedbroadsupportforlandrights,andhelpeddevelopaseriesofhomelandsmovements,inthemid-1970s.IncentralAustralia, Aranda,Pitjatjantjara,Warlpiriandother Aboriginalcommunitiesbegantoleavethemissionsandsettlementsestablishedbythechurchesandcolonialauthorities,returningtocamponandclaimtheirancestrallands.Thiswasviewedwithalarmbythemissionmanagersandsomegovernments,asitwasseenasamove away from civilisation and from the limited infrastructure those missions andsettlements enjoyed. However, the people were going back to reclaim their land, andthey were not asking anyones permission. This had already occurred at Yirrkala in1969. Now in the centre, country and city camps sprang up, as Aboriginal people often for the first time in many decades began to make decisions about where theywould live. A few government services were towed along in the wake of this massmovement (Nathan and Leichleitner Japanangka 1983). A similar reoccupation wasVolume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 91AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 91carriedout,atthesametime,bytheMapoonpeopleinCapeYork,thousandsofkilometres away (Mapoon People 1976).Stategovernmentsrespondedeithercautiouslyorwithhostilitytothelandrightsmovement. Both Labor and Liberal administrations were driven, by the widespreadpopularsupportthathadbeenmobilised,tosomeformoflegalrecognition.LegislationinSouth Australiain1981and1984thePitjantjatjaraLandRightsAct1981 (SA) and the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984 (SA) returned substantialland(butdesertland)tosomeAboriginalcommunities.TheLandRightsAct1983(NSW),ontheotherhand,wasahybridofacknowledgingtitletosomereserves,validating the theft of other reserves (which had been reclaimed for such importantpurposes as golf courses), allowing some limited claims on Crown land and giving aproportion of land tax for 15 years, so that land councils (established under the Act)could buy back some freehold land. The chairman of the NSW Land Council, KevinCook, said the Act was not what we wanted [it] has forced a compromise on us[but]ourtraditionalrighttolandshaveneverbeencededbytreatyoroverturned by conquest we maintain they still exist (Cook in Wilkie 1985, v). In1984,theNationalPartyGovernmentinQueenslandpassedalawspecificallytoblock land claims in the Torres Strait. The Queensland Coastal Islands Declaratory Act 1984(later disallowed as in breach of the 1975 Race Discrimination Act by the High Court inthe Mabo case) aimed to block the claim of several Meriam Islanders, including EddieMabo.Itwasexplicitlyracistlegislation,bytheopenlyracistBjelke-PetersenGovernment.Subsequently,aLaborGovernmentinQueenslandpassedaweakAboriginal Land Act 1991, designed to placate the critics (see Tatten and Djnnbah 1991).Stateandfederalgovernmentsreactedinvariouswaystomediateandcontainpressuresfromthelandrightsmovement.Wheretherewasnothostile,ideologicalopposition, or direct pressure from powerful corporate interests (such as mining andpastoralcompanies),statesadoptedelementsoflandrights,wheretherewasleastresistance. In doing so, they associated themselves with the groundswell of supportfor the just claims of the land rights movement. Labors betrayalIn 1983, the stage appeared set for national land rights legislation, but Labor betrayedAboriginalAustralia.ThefederalLaborPartyhadpromisednationallandrightslegislationinits1983electionplatform.OnceLaborwasinoffice,MinisterforAboriginalAffairsClydeHoldingconfirmedthis,inaDecember1983resolution92 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 92passed by the Parliament:[This Parliament] acknowledges that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ofAustraliaweretheprioroccupiersandoriginalownersof Australiaspecialmeasureswhichmust[now]betakenincludetherecognitionbyParliamentofAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderpeoplesrightstoland,inaccordancewiththefollowingfivebasicprinciples:(i) Aboriginal land to be held under inalienable freehold title;(ii) protection of Aboriginal sites;(iii) Aboriginal control in relation to mining on Aboriginal land;(iv) Access to mining royalty equivalents; and(v) compensation for lost land to be negotiated.The human rights of Aboriginal and Islander Australians must take precedence over staterights. [Holding 1984, 18.]ThiswasalmostadecadebeforetheHighCourtsjudicialrevolution,intheMabodecision.LaborsDecember1983resolutioninParliamentwasthestrongestcommitment by an Australian Government to comprehensive Aboriginal land rightsbeforeorsince.However,theplanwasquicklyunderattackfromminingcompaniesinWesternAustralia.Landrightswereportrayedintelevisionadvertisements as an attack on suburban backyards. The Western Australian LaborGovernmentledbyBrianBurkesoonbuckled,followedbythefederalLaborGovernment (CLC 2006). Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who claimed to have held the cause of Aboriginal rightsasthenationsgreatestpriority,metwiththe AustralianMiningIndustryCounciland began to water down his proposed law (Tickner 2001, 21, 295). However, PremierBurkethreatenedtoresignifthelawwasnotditchedentirely(Jaensch1989,116).Rather than construct a public education campaign to sell their policy, the HawkeCabinetgavein.ThisCabinetwasdominatedbyeconomicrationalistswhohadvery little empathy with Aboriginal aspirations, according to one of their ministerialcolleagues (Tickner 2001, 23). Hundreds of Aboriginal people mobilised in CanberraforaweekofdemonstrationsinMay1985.ButLaborspolicywasdead,andrelationsbetweenAboriginalorganisationsandLaborhadbeenpoisoned(Read2001, 29799).Labor flicked the issue to the conservative states. Minister Clyde Holding announcedin March 1986 that:Volume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 93AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 93FollowingconsiderationbytheGovernmentofsome260submissionsfrominterestedparties the Government made clear its preference for land rights to be implemented bystateactionbroadlyconsistentwiththeCommonwealthsprinciples,ratherthanbyoverriding legislation. [Holding 1986.]SomuchforAboriginalhumanrightstakingprecedenceoverstatesrights.TheCanberra Times (6 March 1986) called it a shameful backdown. Aboriginal activists began to mobilise in the lead-up to the planned celebration of thebicentenaryofcolonisation,inJanuary1988.Withtheexperienceof(banned)demonstrations at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, groups from aroundthe country planned convoys into Sydney. Meanwhile, international networks werereactivated,andtheclaimofsovereigntytookamorecentralplace.A NationalCoalition of Aboriginal organisations (NCAO) was formed, to coordinate campaignsover sovereignty, land rights and the return of human remains, artworks and relicsheld in other countries. Activists in Western Australia and New South Wales joinedforcestopushforaRoyalCommissioninto AboriginalDeathsinCustody.LedbyHelen Boyle and Arthur and Leila Murray, and with a beginning focus on the deathsof John Pat and Eddie Murray, this 198387 campaign secured the inquiry. However,thelongandexpensiveRoyalCommission(seeJohnston1991)didnotleadtoanyreduction in jailings or deaths in custody.In an attempt to defuse the campaigns in the lead-up to the Bicentennial, the HawkeGovernmentannouncedthecreationofanAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderCouncil(ATSIC),withelectedrepresentativesbutanappointedchairpersonanddeputy.Themovefellflat.FiftythousandAboriginalpeopleandtheirsupportersmarchedintothecentreofSydney,andasthefireworksweresetoffalongtheHarbour,theyheldtheirownSurvivalDaycelebrations.ThedemonstrationwaslargelyignoredbytheAustraliancorporatemedia,whichfocusedontheofficialcelebrations,butthe Aboriginalstatementwascoveredwidelybytheinternationalmedia.SurvivalDaycelebrationsinSydneyhavecarriedoneveryyearsince1988,initiallyatLaPerouse,thenatRedfern.Inearly1990,ATSICwasimposedonanAboriginal community which stayed away in droves from the election (Foley 2001).ApartfromthesymbolichandbackofUluru,in1985,nothingmoreonlandrightswas heard from federal Labor, until the 1992 Mabo judgment forced them to act. TheMabo caseforcedLabortodealwiththenew(andlongoverdue,butlimited)commonlawrecognitionoftraditionalrights,butevenmoreimportantly,todealwithfearanduncertaintyovertitleamongbignon-Aboriginallandowners.ThestateprojectwastosomehowcodifytheMabo principlesinnationallaw,whilemaintaining the Mabo decisions spirit of extinguishment.94 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 94Native title and land rightsOneconsequenceofthemyththatnativetitleequalslandrightsisthatlandrightsareoftennowseenasthecreationoftheHighCourtin1992andthesubsequentNativeTitleAct 1993(Cth).FocusbylawyersontheMabo judgment(forexample,StephensonandRatnapala1993)hasledtothepopularmisunderstandingthatAustralian law recognised Aboriginal land rights for the first time in 1992. GraemeNeate,headoftheFederalNativeTitleTribunal,suggestsanequivalencebetweennative title and land rights:The Mabo decision made a fundamental change Before Mabo some groups of IndigenousAustralianshadtitleoverorrightstospecificparcelsofland[but]thedecisionintheMabocasewasthefirsttimethatan AustraliancourthadrecognisedtheentitlementsofIndigenous people to their traditional lands under their traditional laws. [Neate 2002.]However, the Mabo case did not even attempt to address the full claims of the landrights movement, let alone challenge the basis of the colonial land grab. As MichaelMansell says:The Murray islanders did not argue against the claim by whites that the whole continent passed into the hands of the British when a flag was stuck in a beach at Botany Bay [or that] the common law of England applied throughout in fact the case was dependenton this being so the issue was whether the Crown also took over [all] native title as wellas sovereignty, when the flag was struck. [Mansell 1992.]The Mabo case removed the colonial fiction of an empty land a fiction that wasusedtojustifydispossession.Somejudgesrecognisedthesignificanceofthisdispossession:Aborigines were dispossessed of their land parcel by parcel, to make way for expandingcolonialsettlement.Theirdispossessionunderwrotethedevelopmentofthenation.[Brennan in Mabo, 1992, at 50.]Yet in the same breath, the Mabo judgment sought to validate the overwhelming bulkofactualdispossession.Subsequentlegalargumentnotoriouslyreferstothisdispossession not as a deliberate policy process, or a failure to construct treaties, butrather as a natural tide of history which has swept away most Aboriginal claims(Brennan in Mabo, 1992; OLoughlin in Cubillo, 2000).The High Court said that the Meriam people were entitled to own and possess theirislands,butitaddedthattheQueenslandParliamenthadthepowertoextinguishtheirtitle,solongasitdidnotbreachfederallaw.However,underthisnativetitleVolume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 95AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 95doctrine,alldispossessionof Aboriginalcommunitieswasdeclaredvalid.Theoneexceptiontothisextinguishmentdoctrinewasracistdispossessionbythestatesafter the federal Race Discrimination Act 1975. Further, Aboriginal communities werenot entitled to any compensation for this great robbery. The Mabo case is commonly said to have established four principles: a rejection ofthe earlier terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) doctrine, recognition of a nativetitle which may have survived a supposed change in sovereignty (but which had tobe proved by Aboriginal people), the implicit extinguishment of most native title(that is, legitimising all other title granted over Aboriginal lands) and an argumentmostly opposing compensation for extinguishment. While overturning terra nulliusmeantrecognitionofAboriginallawandlandcustodianship,inthesamebreatheffectiveAboriginallawwasdenied.ExtinguishmentwasthechieffindingoftheMabo decision. Apart from the successful Murray Islanders claim, the principle re-affirmedwasthat,fortheprevioustwocenturies,allnon-AboriginaltitlegrantedoverAboriginallandwasvalid,andthatallAboriginalclaimsthatfacednon-Aboriginalcompetitionweresummarilyextinguished.OnlyaftertheRaceDiscrimination Act of 1975 did the High Court allow that questions of compensationcould arise.WhatwasmostsignificantabouttheMaboandNativeTitleAct processeswastherelativeabsenceofAboriginalvoices.EddieMaboandhiscountryfolkfiledtheirclaimin1982,andahandfulofselectedAboriginaladviserssatinwithPaulKeatings administration in 1993 as the deal was done. The High Court had raised aspectreoverlandtitleinAustraliaandtheplacatingofbigpropertyownersandinvestorswasLaborsrealcrisis.TheMabo ministerialcommitteewaschairedbyPrime Minister Keating and dominated by Ministers for Resources, Primary IndustryandEnergy,Industry,FinanceandTreasury.Whilethegovernmentwentintosessions to resolve their problem, the Wiradjuri people in NSW and the Wik peoplein Queensland lodged large land claims. The then Aboriginal Affairs Minister RobertTickner(2001,10810)laterwrotethathewasdemoralisedbytheeconomicrationalist ethos of Cabinet, and its lack of commitment to Indigenous social justice. InAugust1993,amajormeetingofAboriginalrepresentativesfromaroundthecountry issued a statement from Eva Valley Station (NT). This rejected the proposedNative Title Bill and called for legislation to advance Aboriginal rights to land andforthestatestobeexcludedfromtheprocess(inCoombs1994,23134).Keatingreacted angrily and restricted his consultations to a small group, including appointedATSICheadLoisODonohueandpersonsfromthefewcommunitiesthatstoodtobenefit from a limited Mabo-style native title law Noel Pearson (from Cape York),PeterYu(fromtheKimberleys)andDavidRoss(fromtheNT).Important96 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 96representativesexcludedincludedPaulCoe,CharlesPerkins,MickDodson,GeoffClark, Rob Riley, Michael Mansell and Aden Ridgeway prominent people in thenationallandrightsmovement,butalsorepresentativesofthesouthernstates.However, the support of this small and unrepresentative A team gave the KeatingGovernmenttheappearanceofAboriginalsupportforitsnativetitlelaw,whichpassed federal Parliament in late 1993.The High Courts 1996 Wik decision, which extended its native title notion to pastoralleases, and subsequent attacks on the Native Title Act by the conservative opposition(later the Howard Government), would overshadow just how effective a barrier thisnative title had become to land rights. Even before the 1998 amendments to the Acthad further weakened the bargaining position of the few communities that stood tobenefit, the major mining companies had expressed their satisfaction with the Labordeal.LeonDavis,CEOofCRA,saidheacceptednativetitleinprinciple,andbelievedthatthenewconceptprovidedaconstructivepathtomajorminingdevelopments. John Prescott of BHP said that basically our position has always beenthat we support native title we are prepared to work with government to resolve[any problems] (Frith and Caruana 1995).In many ways, this stunted native title concept has become an effective substitutein dispossession for the terra nullius concept it is supposed to have replaced. Yet notonlyisnativetitleirrelevanttoover80percentoftheAboriginalpopulation,itlegitimises dispossession for the vast majority of Aboriginal people. For those few towhomitapplies,itisasubordinateandweaktitle,presentingthefalseimageofhaving met the aspirations of the land rights movement. Michael Mansell noted:The Mabo decision would find support from those few Aboriginal groups in isolated areaswhocouldtakeadvantageofitsnarrowscope,andfromthose[who]remainloyaltowhites, their institutions and forms. However more than 250,000 of the 300,000 Aborigineswould get nothing. [Mansell 1992.]Few Aboriginal people spoke out against the creation of native title because they didnot want to harm the claims of those few Aboriginal groups who stood to benefit those in far North Queensland, the Torres Strait and the north of Western Australia. In1995,JusticeRobertFrench,firstPresidentoftheNativeTitleTribunal,correctlyobserved that native title law must seem perverse to many Aboriginal communities,as it made land rights dependent on historical accidents: the survival of native title on land which may today be vacant Crown land depends onaccidents of historical land tenure states, territories and significant mining interests areVolume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 97AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 97vigorous in their pursuit of extinguishing events against native title claims the processmust seem perverse to those who maintain their association with their country and uponwhomindigenoustraditionconfersresponsibilityforthatcountry. [FrenchinWaanyiPeoples Native Title Determination, 1995.] NativetitleallowedonlyrestrictedlandrightsclaimsbyasmallnumberofAboriginalgroups,insituationssimilartothatofEddieMabo.AboriginalandTorres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Dodson denounced both theMabo decisionandtheNativeTitleAct, sayingitlegalisedthetheftofIndigenousland: The native title Act legalises injustice to indigenous Australians [but] theNativeTitle Actisnotthelastwordonindigenousrightsinthiscountry(Jopson1995, 3).What of the outcomes from a decade of native title? While acknowledging large non-native title gains before 1991, Native Title Tribunal chief Graeme Neate argues for thenew doctrine:ThePitjantjatjaraandMaralingalandscompriserespectively10.4%and7.7%ofSouthAustralia[102,630km2and76,420km2,respectively].ThetotalareaofgrantsundervariousCommonwealth,stateandterritorystatutesis1,101,623squarekilometresor14.32% of the area of Australia. [Neate 2004, 19.]This was almost all arid lands in the NT and SA. Neate goes on:Similar outcomes have emerged from native title determinations. As at 1 November 2004there were 54 determinations of native title So far, native title has been determined overa total area of 453,162 square kilometres, or 5.73% of the area of Australia Many groupsof indigenous Australians who were invisible or marginalised are now seen and haveseats at the negotiation table. [Neate 2004, 19, 34.]However, half of this area is unwanted desert land in Western Australia, while three-quartersofthesuccessfulQueenslandclaimswereintheislandsandoceanoftheTorres Strait.By the end of 2004, 10 years after the Native Title Act came into force, there had been37successfulclaims(21fulland16partial)underthelegislation.However,therewere no successful claims at all in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT.TherewasonesuccessfulsmallclaiminNSW.Tribunalclaimsthathaddeliveredsomelandto AboriginalcommunitieswereintheNorthernTerritory,aridregionsofWesternAustraliaandfarnorthQueensland.Severaloftheclaimscoveredexisting Aboriginal reserves or missions. The top state in terms of successful claims98 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 98wasQueensland.However,ofthe21successfulQueenslandclaims,17wereinTorresStraitislandsinsimilarconditionstoEddieMabosisland.Onewas an extension of the Wik peoples successful High Court action to some limited rightsoverpastoralleasecountry.TheremainingthreewereintheCapeYorkarea,involvingMissionslandandunallocatedstatelands(AIATSIS2005).With nativetitle,mostAboriginalpeoplewerestillunseenandhadnoseatatthenegotiation table.Understanding and defending land rightsAllthemajoradvancesofthelonglandrightsmovementandthecivilrightsmovementshavebeendrivenbyAboriginalvoices,andAboriginal-controlledorganisations. By this we do not mean Departments of Aboriginal Affairs, ATSIC orthelatestNationalIndigenousCouncil,butcommunity-basedgroupsliketheAdvancementLeagues,FCAATSI,theALSandAMS,NAILS,NAIHO,Aboriginalcontrolledcollegesandcommunitycentres,somelandcouncilsandtheNationalCoalition of Aboriginal Organisations. You would not know this by reading much oftheexistinghistoryandanalysisofAboriginalaffairs.Somenon-AboriginalhistorianshaveexplainedAboriginalsocialmovementswell(forexample,Hardy1968;NathanandLeichleitner1983;Goodall1988and1996).Othershavebecomecapturedbythebetterdocumentedrolesofmissionmanagersandnon-Aboriginaladvocates, in particular Labor politicians. Bain Attwood, for example, imagines thatlandrightsfirstemergedasaconceptamongstnon-Aboriginalcampaigners(Attwood 2003, 216). The role of non-Aboriginal advocates, and the engagement ofcommunitieswithwhitesystems,hasbeenaconstantthemeamongoldersocialscientists(forexample,Rowley1971),butonewhichhasobscuredtheriseofIndigenous movements. AsimportantastheHighCourtscheersquadinelevatingnativetitleandobscuringthelandrightsmovementhavebeentheLaborapologists.ByDonWatsonsargument,forexample,hisoldbossPaulKeatingwastheheroofAboriginal land rights.ForKeatingitwasthebigchancetomakeadifference,achancethatHawkehadsquibbed in 1984. national legislation enshrining the Mabo judgement would laya new foundation for Australia in the 21st century Australian law [now] reflected thetruth of Australias history No-one else in that Government, or for that matter in anypreviousone,wouldhavegotthelegislationthrough.Itwasamonumentnotonlytohispoliticalskillandintegrity,buttohisbeliefthatsometimesitisyourdutytobeaheadofpublicopinionandtoignoreit,whatevertherisk.[Watson2002,38182,45354.]Volume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 99AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 99Apparently Keating had no role at all in Labors betrayal of 198485; apparently hewasrighttoignoreallthose Aboriginalvoicesin1993.However,itseemsunlikelythathiselectoraldefeatof1996wasduetohisprincipledstandforallthoseungrateful Aborigines.Theroleofnon-Aboriginaladvocatesisalsoseizedonbybank-andminingcompany-fundedthinktankreportsthatpaintlandrightsasanon-Aboriginalsocialistconspiracy.Right-wingideologueHelenHughesandhercompanionsregardlandrightsasnothingtodowiththejustclaimsofAboriginalpeople,butrather a socialist experiment devised by Nugget Coombs and his Labor friends:Sincethe1970sAustraliahasbeenconductingasocialistexperimentinremotecommunities with the lives of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Coombs, Brandl andSnowdon provided the blueprint in A Certain Heritage [1983], advocating communal landownership, supported by substantial welfare transfers, to create an Aborigines and TorresStrait Islander hunter-gatherer utopia that would culminate in a nation independent fromthe rest of Australia. [Hughes and Warin 2005, 1.]The historical claims of such an absurd story would not normally deserve a seriousresponse,exceptforthefactthatsuchargumentsarenowusedtobackcorporatedemands (in Australia and the Pacific) for the privatisation of Indigenous land. Theproposal is for governments to force existing Indigenous land title into: an individual property rights land ownership framework to enable Aborigines andTorresStraitIslanderstodevelopenterprisesandattractinvestmenttocreatejobsandincomes. [Hughes and Warin 2005, 1.]Basedonthissortofargument,between2002and2005severalconservativeministershaveflaggedadesiretoshifttheirIndigenouspolicyemphasistowardsindividuals rather than community organisations and towards a more workableformoflandrights,andtobelookingmoretoprivaterecognitionoflandrights(Ruddock 2002; Vanstone 2005; Howard 2005). One NSW Aboriginal leader, WarrenMundine,hasattachedhimselftothisbandwagon,arguingthatIndigenouscommunity land should be able to be bought and sold (Mundine 2005). The hugeriskofaseconddispossession(ofthosefewcommunitieswhodohavesomelandrights) should be obvious. Poor communities never benefit from individual get-rich-quick schemes.Allthispointstotheneedtodefendexistinglandrights,andextendthem.RestorationofAboriginallandsisessentialforcommunityself-determination,developmentandself-esteem.NativetitlehasbeenirrelevanttomostAboriginal100 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 100Volume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 101The land rights movement and state responsesMajor Indigenous campaigns State responses Civil rights and equal citizenship:1920s60sLand rights and self-determination:1960s80sCampaigning inthe bureaucratic era:1980s+ Aborigines Progressive Associations,1924 and 1937 APAs National Day of Mourning,1938 FCAA (FCAATSI) referendumcampaign, 195758 Freedom rides in NSW, 196567 Gurindji land campaign at Wave Hill,196566 Struggle for Aboriginal control ofFCAATSI, 1969 Larrakia and Gove (NT) land claims,1969+ East coast Black Power, 196870s Aboriginal Legal and MedicalServices, 1970+ Aboriginal Tent Embassy, 1972 National and local land rightscampaigns, 1970+ Aboriginal controlled health,education, arts and communityorganisations, 1970s+ Sovereignty (APG) and treatycampaigns, 1980s+ Campaigns to return Aboriginalremains and relics Stolen Children campaigns Link-up Corp, 1980+ CDBR and Watch CommitteeAboriginal deaths in custodycampaigns, 1983+ Tasmanian land claims, 1980s+ Meriam peoples (Mabo) land claims,19822001 Mirarr campaign to close Rangeruranium mine at Kakadu (NT),1990s+ Protection abandoned butassimilation introduced, 1937 1967 referendum removesdiscriminatory provisions inConstitution but little action overAboriginal rights Gove and Larrakia (NT) land claimsrejected, 1971 Partial recognition of Gurindji claims,1975 Royal Commission into Aboriginal landrights, 1973+ ALS and AMS receive federal funding,1973 NT Land Rights Act 1976 NSW Land Rights Act 1983 validates dispossession SA Land Rights Acts, 1981 and 1984 Qld Coastal Islands Act 1984 blocks land claims Uluru handback, 1985 ALP reneges on national land rightspromise, 198386 HREOC Stolen Generation Inquiry,199799 Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths inCustody, 198791 Self-determination policy delaysmainstreaming of services ATSIC created inherits DAAbureaucracy High Court Mabo decision, 1992 Native Title Act 1993 native titleand extinguishmentAJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 101people. What is worse, it legitimises dispossession for that great majority. Where itapplies it is a subordinate and weak title, presenting the illusion of land rights. Yetdespitetheformidablelegalobstacleofnativetitle,therearesignsthatthelandrightsmovementisstillaliveandwell.Therehavenowbeentwolotsoflandhandbacks in Tasmania, after the Native Title Act, but which had nothing to do withnative title. Tasmanian Aboriginal communities, which had to fight to be recognisedas even existing as recently as the 1980s, have made some advances. Their long-termcampaignsdrewresponses.In1995,aconservativegovernmentreturned3900hectaresto Aboriginalgroups.ThiswashistoricallysensitivelandatRisdonCove,someareasintheBassStraitIslandsandsomeice-agecavescontainingancientAboriginalsitesintheSouth-WestWilderness. ActivistMichaelMansellcalledthemove an extraordinary and ironical change that catapults Tasmania from last to firstplace in the return of Aboriginal land (Darby 1995). Then, in 2005, again after a longcampaign, a Labor Government handed back the ownership of Cape Barren, GooseandClarke(Lungtalanana)IslandstotheAboriginalcommunity(ABC2005).ThisdemonstratesthatstrongAboriginalvoicesifsustainedandnotdivertedintobureaucraticstructurescanstillmakeadvancesinlandrightsforAboriginalcommunities.ReferencesAustralian cases Cubillo v Commonwealth [2000] FCA1084; BC200004514Mabo v Queensland (1992) 175 CLR 1Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd [197273] ALR 65102 Australian Journal of Human Rights 2006The land rights movement and state responses (continued)Major Indigenous campaigns State responses Yorta Yorta (VicNSW) land claims,1990s+ Native Title Act amended to furtherweaken claims, 1996 Ranger mine supported bygovernment, but fails Handback of Tasmanian Aboriginalland, 1995 and 2005 Federal government moves toprivatise land rights, 2002+AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 102WaanyiPeoplesNativeTitleDetermination, ApplicationNoQN94/9,NativeTitleTribunal, 14 February 1995International lawInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966) UNInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (1966) UNOther referencesABC (2005) Island ownership set for return to Indigenous community ABC Online[Online] Available: AIATSIS(2005)NativeTitleResourceGuide AustralianInstituteofAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderStudies[Online]Available:Attwood B (2003) Rights for Aborigines Allen & Unwin, SydneyAttwoodBandMarkusA (1999)TheStruggleforAboriginalRights:A DocumentaryHistory Allen & Unwin, SydneyBandlerF(1989)TurningtheTide:A PersonalHistoryoftheFederalCouncilfortheAdvancementofAboriginesandTorresStraitIslanders AboriginalStudiesPress,CanberraBrennanF,DanielW,EganJandHonnerJ(1986)FindingCommonGround CollinsDove, Melbourne Brown A(1972) quoted in The Australian, 29 AprilClarkMT(1972)PastorDoug:TheStoryofSirDouglasNicholls,AboriginalLeaderLansdowne Press, Melbourne (orig pub 1956)CLC(2006)Landalivearchives:1984,CentralLandCouncil(NorthernTerritory),[Online] Available: CoombsHC(1994)AboriginalAutonomy CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge(contains a copy of the Eva Valley Statement, 5 August 1993)Volume 12(1) Land rights and Aboriginal voices 103AJHR 12.1 (2) articles6/12/062:05 PMPage 103Coombs H C, Brandl M M and Snowdon W E (1983) A Certain Heritage: Programs forandbyAboriginalFamiliesinAustralia CentreforResourceandEnvironmentalStudies, Australian National University, CanberraDarbyA (1995)TasmaniareturnslandtoAboriginesSydneyMorningHerald 18OctoberEdwards C and Read P (1989) The Lost Children Doubleday, SydneyFerguson W and Patten J (1938) Aborigines claim citizens rights in I Moores (1995)VoicesofAboriginalAustralia ButterflyBooks,Sydney(pp5461);alsoinJHorner(1994) Bill Ferguson: Fighter for Aboriginal Rights CanberraFoleyG(1991)AboriginalMedicalService:19711991:TwentyYearsofCommunityServices Aboriginal Medical Service Cooperative Ltd, SydneyFoley G (2001) The road to native title The Koori History Website [Online] Available:

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