Presents the facts of why the Wik and Mabo judgements of the High Court were so momentous, and why Labor passed the Native Title Act in response.

First edition published in 2006.

Delves into the Mabo legal case and the important issues it raises for Australians and indigenous peoples everywhere. This multimedia resource gives an overview of the case and provides an insight into both the man at its centre, Eddie Koiki Mabo, and Torres Strait Islander culture. CD-ROMS include film, audio-visuals, and text.

In this book, Peter H. Russell offers a comprehensive study of the Mabo case, its background, and its consequences, contextualizing it within the international struggle of indigenous peoples to overcome colonized status. --book jacket.

More than a decade has passed since the High Court's decision in Mabo, and this book remains a key mechanism for distinguishing between fact & myth among the claims & counter-claims which bedevil Australia's native title debate. It provides an accurate, accessible, and unbiased account of what the judges and the Acts of Parliament have actually said about native title, what it means, and what problems are likely to arise. Recognising that the 1993 ruling in Mabo remains the basic legal document on native title, this 4th edition retains the plain language version of the ruling as its core. There follow equally straightforward explanations of the Native Title Act 1993, the 1996 High Court judgment in Wik, and the Howard government's legislative response in 1998 with the "10 point plan." Finally, there are two completely new chapters on how the native title legislation has worked in practice, what important issues remain to be resolved, and some possible future directions.

Coming to Terms challenges conventional thinking about Aboriginal title in South Australia. It does so by examining the legal consequences of provisions in the State's founding documents that reserve or protect Aboriginal rights to land.

This is the remarkable story of Mary Gaudron AC QC, the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. With wit, astonishing intellect and the tool of the law, Gaudron exposed inequality and discrimination in the workforce and campaigned vigorously for women to be accorded equal pay and equal opportunities.

Delgamuukw. Mabo. Ngati Apa. Recent cases have created a framework for litigating Aboriginal title in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The distinguished group of scholars whose work is showcased here, however, shows that our understanding of where the concept of Aboriginal title came from – and where it may be going – can also be enhanced by exploring legal developments in these former British colonies in a comparative, multidisciplinary framework. This path-breaking book offers a perspective on Aboriginal title that extends beyond national borders to consider similar developments in common law countries.

Second edition annotated at B B988.65/M2; third edition includes chapters on the High Court's decision in the Wik case in December 1996 and on the government's response to the Wik decision - the ten point plan and the proposed amendments to the Native Title Act.

Described as 'ground-breaking' in Kent McNeil's Foreword, this book develops an alternative approach to conventional Aboriginal title doctrine. It explains that aboriginal customary law can be a source of common law title to land in former British colonies, whether they were acquired by settlement or by conquest or cession from another colonising power. The doctrine of Common Law Aboriginal Customary Title provides a coherent approach to the source, content, proof and protection of Aboriginal land rights which overcomes problems arising from the law as currently understood and leads to more just results. The doctrine's applicability in Australia, Canada and South Africa is specifically demonstrated. While the jurisprudential underpinnings for the doctrine are consistent with fundamental common law principles, the author explains that the Australian High Court's decision in Mabo provides a broader basis for the doctrine: a broader basis which is consistent with a re-evaluation of case-law from former British colonies in Africa, as well as from the United States, New Zealand and Canada. In this context, the book proffers a reconceptualisation of the Crown's title to land in former colonies and a reassessment of conventional doctrines, including the doctrine of tenure and the doctrine of continuity. 'With rare exceptions ... the existing literature does not probe as deeply or question fundamental assumptions as thoroughly as Dr Secher does in her research. She goes to the root of the conceptual problems around the legal nature of Indigenous land rights and their vulnerability to extinguishment in the former colonial empire of the Crown. This book is a formidable contribution that I expect will be influential in shifting legal thinking on Indigenous land rights in progressive new directions.' From the Foreword by Professor Kent McNeil (to read the Foreword please click on the 'sample chapter' link).