Terra Nullius

For at least 40,000 years Aborigines have lived in and called Australia home. However the lives of Indigenous Australians changed in 1770 when European white men, unfairly took possession of the land (Simpson,1997). They wrongly declared the country ‘terra nullius’, land owned by no one, and dramatically decreased the population of the aborigines dues to their invasion. Only in the past decade has Australian law recognised that prior to 1770 Indigenous people did live on the land, and in knowing this, the High Court of Australia rejected ‘terra nullius’ from our law. This overturn however, did not and still does not address the fact that Europeans took land from Aborigines with no consent or agreement (australianminds.healthekids.net)(austemb.org).

European, Captain James Cook, arrived in Botany Bay, on the south-eastern coast of Australia in 1770. He claimed possession of the east coast of country for Britain under the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’ (racismnoway.com.au). T...