History and land rights

Abstract

The place of history and historians in the Indigenous land rights process has puzzled me for several years. In my view history is important, if not pivotal, to explaining land rights policy and practice. Dispossession occurred in past actions: land rights represents an attempt to make amends for past injustice and to improve the present lot of Aborigines. Land rights provides more lifestyle choices, offering Indigenous people an economic base and a chance to protect their cultural heritage. Land rights therefore addresses both past and present. Aborigines who claim land are highly conscious of certain historical events, policies, and patterns of behaviour which have led to their contemporary situation. But professional historians have done little to articulate or explain these phenomena. In fact, odd as it may seem, land rights are very rarely seen as having anything to do with history. The key professions involved have been law and anthropology, and the academic debate has centred around their analysis. No debate yet exists on the relevance of historical interpretation to current or proposed policy. Show more