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
arguments as to why Australia in 1788 was declared Terra Nullius. One of the more prominent arguments is, that upon the arrival of British fleets to Australia soil the native Aborigines of Australia at the time had no recorded history. They were seen as a primitive and scattered race of people who where less organized and advanced then the settling British. With no laws, government or event defined leaders able to speak for the nation as a whole the British had no way of negotiating treaties or agreements, as they had done to countless other country’s in the past. It is document in journals and notes from some of the early most settlers, the simplistic and almost primitive interaction with Australia’s indigenous population. “ …While searching for new more fertile land we encountered a small group of this lands native people. They are simple and primitive with no clothing and are fascinated by our own. Communication is impossible at best and they seem to have no understanding of basic land cultivation as we have not seen crops of any kind during our search” With many people at the time believing the local Australia natives to be primitive and having no way of governing themselves this could not be further from the truth, we now know that quite the opposite was true.
Due to the harsh Australia environment and landscape we know that Australia is naturally a hard country to shape and cultivate. To add to this the indigenous Aborigines arrived in Australia via land bridges thousands of years prior and with the removal of said land bridges Australia is still today one of the worlds most isolated countries. As a result of its isolation and harsh conditions the natives of Australia had a more nomadic life style or the hunter gather type. This is not to say however that individual governing bodies and laws didn’t exist. Captain Cook noted on one of his first trips to Botany Bay in 1770 “the natives do not seem to be numerous” this however was just the Botany Bay region at this said time of the year. As mention earlier due to the country’s harsh conditions the Cook himself discovered at a later date larger tribes were in fact simple in a different area for food.

Another reason for calming Terra Nullius in Australia was the fact that to the new invading force the indigenous population didn’t hold a recorded history.
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
tribes.

One of the major issues with Australia being declared Terra Nullius is that in doing so the nation of Great Brittan was essentially stating that Australia now belonged to them.
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
Nullius for the rest of the nation remained.

So although there are clear reasons why Australia was declared Terra Nullius for British sovereign rule, there are also just as many clear reasons why it should never of happened.

Bibliography
Australia Government Mabo Education Website, http://www.nfsa.gov.au/digitallearning/mabo/tn_29.shtml, (Accessed 16th April 2013)

Blainey. G, Triumphs of the nomads, A History of Ancient Australia, Revised Edition, Sun Books, Melbourne 1988

Clark. M, A short history of Australia, Redwood Burn Limited, London, 1977

Gordon. H, An eyewitness history of Australia, Rigby Limited, Sydney, 1976

Ray. A, Reaching Australia, Robert Burton Printers, Sydney, 1995