No Ordinary Judgement: Mabo, the Murray Islanders' Land Case - Softcover

Nonie Sharp

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0855752874 ISBN 13: 9780855752873

Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Pr, 1996

Synopsis

This is the inside story of the Mabo case, a unique court drama where rights and interests previously unknown to Anglo-Australian law came to be recognised by the High Court of Australia. In far north-east Australia lie the homelands of the Meriam, a dynamic seafaring, fishing and gardening people. They explained in court, often eloquently, how their ''cultural way'' retains a fidelity to distinctive principles while also accommodating new ideas and techniques. In the name of Meriam law they also defended their right to land passed between generations by the spoken word. Their right to land carries with it a moral and practical responsibility to other Meriam and to the land itself. Meriam culture, often diminished in the hearing of evidence, has an original contribution to make to future Meriam, to the rest of Australia and to the world. In exploring the role of native title in the reshaping of Australian identity, some of the deeper questions of cultural diversity and self-determination are identified.

About this title

About the Author

Nonie Sharp is an honorary research fellow at the School of Social Sciences at La Trobe University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0855752874
• ISBN 13: 9780855752873
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290