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Terra Nullius
European settlement of Australia commenced in 1788. Prior to this, indigenous Australians inhabited the continent and had unwritten laws, as documented in the case of the Yirrkala community. However, the indigenous Australians did not have any form of political organization that Europeans could understand as being analogous to their own institutions, and the British could not find recognised leaders with the authority to sign treaties, so treaties were not signed .The first test of terra nullius -
Stolen Generations
The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1909 and 1969, although in some places children were still being taken until the 1970s. Documentary evidence, such as newspaper articles and reports to -
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The Stolen Generations
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Conniston
The Coniston massacre, which took place from 14 August to 18 October 1928 near the Coniston cattle station in Northern Territory, Australia, was the last known officially sanctioned massacre of Indigenous Australians and one of the last events of the Australian Frontier Wars. People of the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye groups were killed. The massacre occurred in revenge for the death of dingo hunter Frederick Brooks, killed by Aboriginal people in August 1928 at a place now known as Yukurru -
Wave Hill Walk Off
Wave Hill Cattle Station is located approximately 600 km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. From the late nineteenth century it was run by the British pastoral company, Vesteys. Vesteys employed the local Indigenous people, the Gurindji, to work on Wave Hill. But working conditions were extremely poor and wages were very low when compared to those of non Indigenous employees. In 1966, Lingiari, a member of the Gurindji had worked at Wave Hill, and recently returned from a period of hospi
