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When and how did Britain claim Sovereignty over Australia?

What is extraordinary about the British claim of Sovereignty over the eastern half of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land is the extent of the area it covered. Even for a Radical Title, which is a term used for how European Powers could claim precedence over certain lands, to negotiate Rentals, Purchases or Treaties ahead of other European Powers, this claim went far wider than the lands ostensibly "discovered" by Cook. On top of this, this Radical Title was then coupled with the decision to give the British Crown full beneficial ownership. [node:read-more:link]

British Parliamentary Report on the Aboriginals in New Holland & Van Diemen's Land 1837

Early 19th century map of Australia and New Zealand

This report tabled in the British House of Commons in 1837 is very telling on the attitudes and information received on the state of their colonies. The report for New Holland (now known as Australia) begins here:
'The inhabitants of New Holland, in their original condition, have been described by travelers as the most degraded of the human race ; but it is to be feared that intercourse with Europeans has cast over their original debasement a yet deeper shade of wretchedness.
[node:read-more:link]

'Over Cooked': Is Captain Cook the source of British sovereignty in Australia?

The story of Lieutenant James Cook and British Sovereignty over Australia has been overcooked. At no time on any of Cook's three voyages to the Pacific was he intending to go anywhere near New Holland. He did chart the east coast of New Holland in 1770, but that was not part of his Instructions. The whole story about Cook and his association with the claim of British Sovereignty over the lands now known as Australia is retrospective, rather than consistent with the events of the time. Cook's initial "mission" was to get to Tahiti to study the Transit of Venus, and to then look for the fabled Great Southern Land, Terra Australis. [node:read-more:link]

No treaty or contract is valid if the parties are at war

Rules of Treaty and War

Under international law and domestic contractual law - no treaty or contract can be classified as legal if we are under the 'rules and disciplines of war'. If our First Nations Peoples are not fully aware of these facts, then any contract entered into, treaty or otherwise, can be argued to be invalid. It is imperative that we as First Nations People know all the wrongdoings, so as to ensure that we have a clear understanding of our legal rights now and going forward. We will be making the call, not the colonists. Our rights, our future - never forget it. [node:read-more:link]

Academic Paper argues that First Nations communal allodial land title cannot be extinguished by fraud

Academic Paper argues that First Nations laws of the land still exist

Australian governments want courts, constituted overwhelmingly by non-indigenous lawyers, to decide land disputes as for feudal socage.

This article puts up an argument that Australian indigenous land title is communal allodial title, as a bundle of subsisting rights by operation of Australian Continental Common Law, which therefore cannot be extinguished by the fraud inherent in frame transformation. [node:read-more:link]

Every symbolic colonial building in Sydney was placed upon a significant First Nations city site

Sydney City number 2

Sydney's current city is probably the largest urban system ever built from, and upon, an existing city framework and it was built in an unholy silence. So says Sydney based Peter Myers who was an architect on the design team of Jørn Utzon's famous Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point.
Myers research was triggered in 1991 when a section of a lime plaster cornice collapsed on his c1853 Blacket villa - this led him to, maybe, the First Fleet's best-kept secret. [node:read-more:link]

Grassroots Aboriginal movement in NSW squashes 'Recognise'

Proclamation - Sovereignty - Recognise

Grassroots Aboriginal people from New South Wales have rejected recognition in the Australian Constitution in favour of Aboriginal Sovereignty, the need for Treaties and for government to enter discussions with First Nations. According to Ghillar, Michael Anderson, the Australian Government is in a quandary over the legality of its sovereignty over Australia. Aboriginal people, on the other hand, are finding it very difficult 'to get out from under' the weight of government oppression which he likened to a German 'Reich' or regime. [node:read-more:link]

Bennelong and Yemmerrawanyea singing in England

Bennelong and Yemmerrawanyea

In a townhouse in London's Mayfair, near Berkeley Square, two Aboriginal men sing in their own language 'in praise of their lovers'. Their voices rise above the repetitive beat of the two hardwood sticks they clap together to maintain the rhythm. They wear fashionable Regency breeches, buckled shoes, ruffled shirts and waistcoats. The year is 1793 and the singers are Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne, far from their Wangal homeland on the south bank of the Parramatta River in Sydney. This was certainly the first time an Aboriginal song was performed in Europe ... [node:read-more:link]

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