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Aboriginal Law Bulletin

Aboriginal Law Bulletin (ALB)
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Blowes, Robert --- "Book Review - Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory - Volume 1" [1989] AboriginalLawB 43; (1989) 1(39) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 18


Book Review -

Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory
Volume 1

by Graeme Neate

Reviewed by Robert Blowes

The problem for the writer of a detailed book on this topic, as Garth Nettheim observes in the Preface, is that Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory has been the subject of a steady stream of developments. The problem for most of his readers is that we were all in desperate need of the wealth and wisdom of hindsight contained in the book whilst puddling in the developments it recounts.

Graeme Neate has created a classic in the text book tradition. It is comprehensive and accurate to the stated date: A must for the bookshelves of all practitioners from the professions associated with the acquisition of Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory and of all other devotees of this complex and necessary process. It is hardly bedtime reading ( though even for one with more than a passing interest in the subject matter it was known to induce sleep on occasions).

It is a book which had to be written. Apart from its ongoing invaluable use to current practitioners, the recent history of the politics, law and processes of land acquisition by Aborigines in the Northern Territory provides much inspiration and many critical lessons for the continuing search for justice for the people whose relationships with this land have otherwise been denied by later arrivals. Land rights in the Northern Territory exemplifies the struggle for Aborigines nationally, not only for land justice, but also for personal and cultural acceptance and affirmation by the balance of the population.

In chapter 1 Graeme Neate sets the scene for the unarguable necessity for the Land Rights Act. Starting with an arrogant ethnocentric legal fiction which was stowed in the baggage of the first European settlers (that this land was no mans land - terra nullius) he sketches the Gurindji walkout, the Gove Land Rights Case, the Woodward Commission and the introduction of the Whitlam Government's version of the Land Rights Bill in 1975. He refers in passing to one of the great and, at least in the short term, fortunate ironies of recent political history, that it was a Liberal-Country Party Government that enacted the Land Rights Act.

After a brief mention of the subsequent political pressures and retreat from the position of relative (but admittedly fallible and less than complete) justice established by the passing of the Land Rights Act, the author gets down to his business; to matter-of-factly and with scrupulous and technical accuracy describe the Land Rights Act, its operation, and its judicial interpretation. This he does with undoubted skill and authority.

In the succeeding chapters the author faithfully instructs us on the myriad-and-one issues which Aborigines are required to face in order to become beneficiaries of an Act of the Commonwealth parliament. Getting land back obviously wasn't meant to be easy, as every reader of this book will find out. It isn't easy. Claimants often have to go to extraordinary lengths of personal and cultural disclosure, frequently under traumatic circumstances, in order to win the favour of the three decision-makers and the benefits of a land grant under the Act: the Aboriginal Land Commissioner, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and the Governor-General.

Getting land back is even harder for those Aboriginal groups who have suffered the greatest cultural disruption under European contact. Under the mechanism provided by the Act the less "traditional" a person or group is the less the chance of obtaining land. It is unfortunate that an Act which seeks to redress some of the results of past injustices is weighted against those who have suffered the most.

The book carefully documents the unique procedures which have developed in the decade of land claims it covers. It records the important role of anthropologists in these procedures and unemotionally, the ethical and professional dilemmas of the development of applied anthropology.

The author has resisted the temptation of most legal text writers to state opinions and policy upon which the judges and politicians may rely when presented with opportunities to interpret or amend the law for the greater good as perceived by the writer. It is perhaps a missed opportunity on the part of this author as he is obviously qualified to have made sensible suggestions in relation to some of the unanswered questions and deficiencies of the Act. Perhaps my only real criticism of this book is that the author has been too faithful in his documentation and too humble in his creativity.

One of the astonishing features of this book is the footnotes, all 46 pages of them, and I could only find one mistake. Chapter 3 dealing with traditional Aboriginal owners of land in 64 pages is footnoted a remarkable 361 times. In refreshing my memory of the ACT's requirements in preparation for the Garawa - Mulgularrungu (Robinson River) Land Claim I found the book and the footnotes very helpful. Readers with less incentive may find it tedious.

In passing a minor criticism of the book, not directed to the author, is that the typsetting and layout is unattractive and makes it somewhat difficult to read.

Volume 2 is to deal with Aboriginal land issues other than the acquisition processes provided by the Land Rights Act. Such completeness and accuracy as has been achieved in Volume 1. may be more difficult to achieve in Volume 2. The steam of developments in that area is more like a raging torrent, and the developments less public and less well documented than the land acquisition process. Much of the land management documentation - particularly some of the larger commercial land use and financial arrangements - are the subject of agreements requiring confidentiality. I for one look forward to its appearance.


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