Small Continuous task 1

Question 1

What is Yolnu Law?

Answer 1

A complex system of interconnected processes and life forms that governs the relationship between people and land.

Question 2

What significant case was decided in 1971 regarding Yolnu land rights?

Answer 2

Milirrpum v Nabalco (1971) 17 FLR 141

Question 3

What was the outcome of Milirrpum v Nabalco?

Answer 3

The court ruled that Aboriginal title to land had not survived British colonization.

Question 4

What is the significance of Mabo v Queensland (No 2)?

Answer 4

It recognized that Aboriginal Native Title pre-existed the arrival of common law in Australia.

Question 5

What does ‘native title’ refer to?

Answer 5

Indigenous entitlement to their traditional lands in accordance with Indigenous laws.

Question 6

What is the principle of terra nullius?

Answer 6

The notion that land was empty and unowned before European settlement, which is inconsistent with Australian and international law.

Question 7

What does the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) establish?

Answer 7

A regime for determining claims of native title and the creation of the National Native Title Tribunal.

Question 8

Fill in the blank: The doctrine of _______ means that the Crown has ultimate ownership of all land in Australia.

Answer 8

radical title

Question 9

True or False: Yolnu law allows for the alienation of land.

Answer 9

False

Question 10

What are the obligations of traditional owners regarding land?

Answer 10

To care for the land and respond to the messages of non-human beings.

Question 11

What is the role of ancestors in Yolnu culture?

Answer 11

They are seen as creator beings who shape the landscape and maintain a spiritual connection with the land.

Question 12

What does ‘Dreaming’ refer to in Yolnu culture?

Answer 12

The ancient time of creation and the ongoing spiritual connection between people and the land.

Question 13

Fill in the blank: The _______ was a pivotal event leading to Aboriginal land rights recognition.

Answer 13

Woodward Royal Commission

Question 14

What does the term ‘relationality’ signify in the context of Yolnu law?

Answer 14

The concept that individuals are part of interconnected networks of relationships.

Question 15

What is the significance of the Yirrkala Petition (1963)?

Answer 15

It represented a formal claim for land rights by the Yolnu people.

Question 16

What is the role of senior traditional owners in Yolnu culture?

Answer 16

They possess deep knowledge of their lands, territories, and sacred sites.

Question 17

True or False: Under Yolnu law, people can change the law.

Answer 17

False

Question 18

What is the legal significance of the High Court’s decision on 3 June 1992?

Answer 18

It recognized that Aboriginal Native Title existed prior to common law.

Question 19

What is the relationship between land and identity in Yolnu culture?

Answer 19

People inherit and pass down ancestral knowledge, linking identity to place.

Question 20

What was the effect of the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act (1985)?

Answer 20

It extinguished any rights Torres Strait Islanders had to land without compensation.

Question 21

Fill in the blank: The _______ was the first major Australian case on Indigenous land rights.

Answer 21

Milirrpum v Nabalco

Question 22

What are the criteria for the registration of native title?

Answer 22

The registration must meet 27 criteria as established by the Native Title Act.

Question 23

What is the significance of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976 (Cth)?

Answer 23

It established land councils to represent claims and rights of Aboriginal communities.

Question 24

What role do ancestors play in the sustenance of land and traditions in Yolnu culture?

Answer 24

They guide and protect the land and its people, ensuring a spiritual connection.

Question 25

What was the first major Australian case on Indigenous land rights?

Answer 25

It was brought by the Yolngu people against Nabalco and the Commonwealth

Question 26

What did the Yolngu people seek recognition of?

Answer 26

Land ownership based on Indigenous laws and customs

Question 27

What was the court's ruling regarding native title at common law?

Answer 27

No doctrine of native title existed in Australian law at the time

Question 28

How did the court view Indigenous land customs?

Answer 28

Acknowledged as a system of law but not proprietary ownership

Question 29

What was the court's ruling on adverse possession and Crown sovereignty?

Answer 29

Sovereignty vested in the Crown in 1788, negating Indigenous claims

Question 30

List specific rights claimed by the Yolngu people.

Answer 30

* The right to live off the waters and the plant and animal life of the lands * The right to dig for and use flints, clays, and other useful minerals * The right to dispose of land products through trade or ritual exchange

Question 31

What impact did the Yirrkala Mission have on traditional ways of life?

Answer 31

Altered traditional ways of life, but did not invalidate their native title claim

Question 32

What type of evidence was provided by Indigenous witnesses?

Answer 32

Oral & anthropological evidence

Question 33

What was the outcome of the case?

Answer 33

Plaintiffs lost the case

Question 34

What did the court find regarding legal recognition of native title?

Answer 34

No legal recognition of native title

Question 35

What significant legal reforms were influenced by this case?

Answer 35

* Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 * Mabo v Queensland (1992)

Question 36

How did the court view the Indigenous legal system?

Answer 36

Recognized the existence but did not recognize it as a system of property law under common law principles

Question 37

What does the Act define 'interest' as?

Answer 37

"a legal or equitable estate or interest in the land" or "a right, power, or privilege over, or in connection with, the land"

Question 38

What was the key argument rejected by Blackburn J regarding property?

Answer 38

Property can exist without records

Question 39

What does the term 'communal native title' imply according to the court?

Answer 39

If clan relationships were not proprietary, it could only mean that all Aboriginals using the land were joint holders

Question 40

What was the historical context of the Yolngu people's formal plea?

Answer 40

Protesting the excision of their land for bauxite mining without their consultation or consent

Question 41

What concerns did the Yolngu people express regarding the excised land?

Answer 41

* Displacement & lack of consultation * Sacred & vital lands at risk * Fear of dispossession

Question 42

What was a turning point in Indigenous activism related to this case?

Answer 42

Led to the 1971 Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd case

Question 43

What does the phrase 'substance over outward indicia' refer to in property law?

Answer 43

Property generally includes rights such as use, exclusion, and alienation, not all must co-exist for proprietary interest

Question 44

What did the court conclude about clan relationships to land?

Answer 44

Did not meet the criteria for proprietary interest

Question 45

What was the significance of the petition submitted by the Yolngu people?

Answer 45

First parliamentary recognition of Indigenous claims

Question 46

True or False: The case established native title in Australia.

Answer 46

False

Question 47

Fill in the blank: The court found no proprietary interest in the land under _______.

Answer 47

[Australian law]

Question 48

What is law and custom

Answer 48

- - Aboriginal law was not called law, then it was called customary law (although not binding), then it was called lore, then considered law. - Acknowledged that there are different legal system. Non anglo legal systems are still legal systems. - Laws are binding, customs are not.

Question 49

what is fee simple

Answer 49

- Fee Simple (Beneficial title) - Owner of property is not a thing legally in Australia. - Because not a republic. - The crown still owns everything. - Doctrine of tenure and doctrine of the state. - All based on favours. - Fee simple → closed to actually owning land. - Benefit of ownership → crown has formal ownership.

Question 50

What is radical title

Answer 50

Crown has → you can have native title, we still have radical title (no mention of sovereignty and law).

Question 51

what is relationally

Answer 51

- ‘each individual is in basic ways constituted by networks of relationships of which they are a part’ - thinking about law in regard to it being more complicated than the concept of individuated law → we are part of connected relationships. - individuated → in relation to one corperation.