Gongs,Gremlins and Glitches

Fraser Andrew , ‘Bonita's battle as vital as Eddie's’, The Weekend Australian (Sydney), 26–7 January 2013, 19. Bonita Mabo's family was ‘black-birded’ from islands around Vanuatu to work in Queensland cane fields. She was born in Halifax, near Ingham, Queensland.

Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1. See also, Keon-Cohen Bryan A , Mabo in the Courts: Islander Tradition to Native Title: A Memoir (ASP, 2011) (out of print and revised edition forthcoming, A Mabo Memoir: Islan Kustom to Native Title (2013), available for order <www.bryankeoncohen.com>).

See Butterworths Native Title Loose Leaf Service (3 Vols) for a comprehensive annotated compilation.

See especially Yorta Yorta v Victoria (2002) 214 CLR 422, where the author appeared for the plaintiffs at a lengthy trial.

Wik Peoples v Queensland (1996) 187 CLR 1.

See especially Native Title Amendment Act 2009 (Cth); Native Title Amendment Act (No 1) 2010 (Cth).

Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic).

National Native Title Tribunal, Annual Report 2010–2011, pp 23–4; see also Priest Marcus , ‘Mabo's legacy: Joy and sorrow’, Weekend Financial Review (Sydney), 2–3 June 2012, 50.

For one such failure and the most substantial judicial discussion to date of this complex area, see especially Jango v Northern Territory (2006) 152 CLR 150.

Calma Tom , ‘Native Title in Australia: Good Intentions, a Failing Framework?’ in ALRC Reform: Native Title 2009 (Issue 93), 7.

Native Title Amendment Act 2009 (Cth).

Dubbed ‘lateral violence’ by Commissioner Mick Gooda in his Australian Human Rights Commission, Native Title Report 2011, 74–115.

These cover about 1.2 million square km, or 16 per cent of the continent. See National Native Title Tribunal, Annual Report 2010–2011, 23–4.

That same politician, in a burst of gross irresponsibility, proceeded to insult the High Court judges who delivered the Wik Decision (holding that native title could co-exist with pastoral leases) referring to them as a ‘bunch of pissants.’ Fischer was subsequently forced to apologise to the Chief Justice.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 2010 Native Title Report (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2010) 13.

Jango v Northern Territory (2006) 152 CLR 150.

Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria (2002) 214 CLR 422.

See, eg, the continuing anti-land-rights campaign conducted by the magazine, Quadrant.

See the private Senator's Bill, introduced by Senator Siewert on 21 March 2011, Native Title Amendment (Reform) Bill 2011 (Cth).

Senate Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Parliament of Australia, Native Title Amendment (Reform) Bill Report (November 2011) [3.82] & [3.92], respectively.

Roxon Nicola , ‘Echoes of Mabo’ (Paper presented at AIATSIS Native Title Conference, Townsville, 6 June 2012).