Cross-cultural Conflict about Property Rights in Wild Animals in Australia: Law and Cinema

Abstract

Pierson v. Post is widely known to both jurists and law students in relation to the question of property rights in wild animals. This article builds on Pierson v. Post and its literature by analyzing the question of ferae naturae in the context of settler and indigenous conflict on the Australian frontier in the nineteenth century. By examining both case law and the cinematic representation of the conflict over property rights on the frontier, it is argued that an understanding of the legal issues relating to ferae naturae is enhanced by an appreciation of the complexity of cross-cultural communication.