¹ Mabo v Queensland [No 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1.

² Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, “Indigenous Life Expectancy” (Canberra: Australian Government, 2013), accessed 22 May 2013, http://www.aihw.gov.au/indigenous-life-expectancy/.

³ Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Prisoner Snapshot” (Canberra: Australian Government, 2013), accessed 22 May 2013, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Products/5087123B0CCE48C1CA257B3C000DC7CE?opendocument

⁴ Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Poverty and Deprivation in Australia” (Canberra: Australian Government, 2013), accessed 22 May 2013, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/featurearticlesbyCatalogue/5D709B83B7F7C25ECA2569DE00221C86?OpenDocument.

⁵ See for example Motha, Stewart, “The Failure of ‘Postcolonial’ Sovereignty in Australia,” Australian Feminist Law Journal 22 (2005): 107–25Google Scholar; Watson, Irene, “Buried Alive,” Law and Critique 13 (2002): 253–69.Google Scholar

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⁷ Pahuja, Sundhya, “Decolonization and the Eventness of International Law,” in Events: The Force of International Law, edited by Johns, Fleur, Joyce, Richard, and Pahuja, Sundhya (New York: Routledge, 2011), 91.Google Scholar

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⁹ Doreen Massey, Space, Place and Gender (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), 146.

¹⁰ Doreen Massey, For Space (London: Sage, 2006), 139.

¹¹ Massey, Doreen, “Power-Geometry and a Progressive Sense of Place,” in Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change, edited by Curtis, Barry, Bird, Jon, Putnam, Tim, Robertson, George, and Tickner, Lisa (New York: Routledge, 1993), 66.Google Scholar

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¹³ Massey, For Space, 140.

¹⁴ As discussed above, there is a level of conceptual ambiguity here, as “process” and “event” are not interchangeable terms. Massey uses various temporal terms to explain her understanding of place, all of which emphasize that place is not fixed in time.

¹⁵ Wolfe, Patrick, “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native,” Journal of Genocide Research 8, no. 4 (2006): 387–409.Google Scholar

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¹⁸ Tuck, Eve and Wayne Yang, K., “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor,” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012): 36.Google Scholar

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²¹ Watson, “Buried Alive,” offers a particularly compelling critique.

²² For a full summary of the formula for native title set out in Mabo, see chapter 1 of Strelein, Compromised Jurisprudence: Native Title Cases Since Mabo (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2009).

²³ Paragraph [66] per Brennan J.

²⁴ Paragraphs [73] – [97] per Brennan J.

²⁵ Per Deane and Gaudron JJ at paragraph [58].

²⁶ Oxford English Dictionary Online, s.v. “tradition,” June 12, 2013, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/204302?rskey=zn30PT&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid17871398.

²⁷ Tuck and Yang, “Decolonization is Not a Metaphor.”

²⁸ Valerie Kerruish and Jeannine Purdy, “He ‘Look’ Honest—Big White Thief,” Law/Text/Culture (1998): 146–71.

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³³ (187) CLR 1; [1996] HCA 40

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³⁵ Russell, Peter H., Recognizing Aboriginal Title: The Mabo Case and Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006), 279–314.Google Scholar

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³⁹ 214 CLR 422.

⁴⁰ Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria and Others [1998] FCA 1606

⁴¹ Buchan, Bruce, “Withstanding the Tide of History: The Yorta Yorta Case and Indigenous Sovereignty,” Borderlands E-journal 1, no. 2 (2002), http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol1no2_2002/buchan_yorta.html.Google Scholar

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⁴⁵ For an in-depth discussion of one group’s preparation for a native-title claim, see chapter 5 of Povinelli, Elizabeth A., The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian Multiculturalism, Politics, History, and Culture (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002).Google Scholar

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⁵² The initial demands were (1) Aboriginal ownership of all existing reserves and settlements (including rights to mineral deposits); (2) ownership of areas of land in the capital cities including mineral rights; (3) preservation of all sacred sites in all parts of the continent; (4) six billion dollars in compensation; and (5) full rights of statehood for the Northern Territory: Newfong, John, “Camping Indefinitely at the Embassy (February–June 1972),” in The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, Land Rights and the State, edited by Foley, Gary, Schaap, Andrew, and Howell, Edwina (New York: Routledge, 2013), 139.Google Scholar

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⁵⁴ Ibid., 293.

⁵⁵ Ibid.; Gilbert, Kevin, “The Continuing Presence of the Embassy Since 1992,” in The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, Land Rights and the State, edited by Foley, Gary, Schaap, Andrew, and Howell, Edwina (New York: Routledge, 2013), 190–210.Google Scholar

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⁵⁸ “A Statistical Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia,” Australian Human Rights Commission (Sydney, 2008), accessed 15 February 2010, http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/statistics/index.html#Heading34.

⁵⁹ “Northern Territory,” National Native Title Tribunal (Canberra, 2010), accessed 15 February 2010, http://www.nntt.gov.au/Native-Title-In-Australia/Pages/Northern-Territory.aspx.

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⁶¹ This Commonwealth power to override territory laws is enabled by section 122 of the Australian Constitution.

⁶² That is, land held on trust under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth).

⁶³ NTNERA s 4.

⁶⁴ Based on a search of all legislative instruments passed under NTNERA as of 15 February 2011.

⁶⁵ NTNERA s 12.

⁶⁶ Ibid., s 126.

⁶⁷ Ibid., pt 3.

⁶⁸ Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory Emergency Response and Other Measures) Act 2007 (Cth) Schedule 4.

⁶⁹ NTNERA pt 5 div 4; pt 7.

⁷⁰ Ibid., ss 90, 91.

⁷¹ Ibid., pt 4 div 1.

⁷² Ibid., s 132.

⁷³ Behrendt, L., Cunneen, C., and Libesman, T., Indigenous Legal Relations in Australia (Sydney: Oxford University Press, 2009), 81–82.Google Scholar

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⁷⁵ West and Murphy, A Brief History of Australia, 232.

⁷⁶ Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, “Closing the Gap: Monitoring Report July–December 2010” (2010), section 6.7.

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⁸⁴ Ibid.

⁸⁵ “History,” Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (Darwin, 2007); Sarah Keenan, “Blue Wristband View of History: The Death of Mulrunji Doomadgee and the Illusion of Postcolonial Australia,” Alternative Law Journal 34 (2009): 248.

⁸⁶ Wurridjal v The Commonwealth of Australia [2009] HCA 2.

⁸⁷ Shaw v Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs [2009] FCA 844 and [2009] FCA 1397.

⁸⁸ Frances Coughlan, “Aboriginal Town Camps and Tangentyere Council: The Battle for Self-Determination in Alice Springs” (Melbourne: La Trobe, 1991), 22.

⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁹⁰ As the land was leasehold, these were in fact subleases, but the principles remain the same. For a full exploration of the legal characteristics of the subleases, see Sarah Keenan “Property as Governance: Time, Space and Belonging in Australia’s Northern Territory Intervention,” Modern Law Review 76, no. 3 (2013): 464–93.

⁹¹ Shaw No 1 at paragraphs [75]–[99].

⁹² IRAG, “Rollback the Intervention,” accessed 14 June 2013, http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/irag/.

⁹³ “Rebuilding from the Ground Up: An Alternative to the Northern Territory Intervention” (Sydney: Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, 2011), accessed 13 June 2013, http://rollbacktheintervention.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/rebuilding-from-the-ground-up-working-doc-14-5-11.pdf.

⁹⁴ “Ampilatwatja,” accessed 12 December 2011, Barkly Regional Council, http://www.barkly.nt.gov.au/our-communities/ampilatwatja/.

⁹⁵ “About,” Intervention Walkoff’s Blog, 23 July 2009, accessed 23 March 2010, http://interventionwalkoff.wordpress.com/about; J. Dheerasekara, “Back to Country: Alyawarr Resistance,” 2009, accessed 12 December 2011, http://vimeo.com/12577970.

⁹⁶ “Ampilatwatja Walkoff—Aboriginal Australia Today,” The Juice Media, uploaded 25 October 2009, accessed 12 December 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJKEl9asqQ&feature=related.

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⁹⁹ The minister has not released an official statement on the walk-off but is clearly aware of its presence. This video shows public servants from the Commonwealth government driving out to the walk-off site in order to inspect it, looking somewhat shocked at what was taking place, and being asked to leave by the residents. “Intervention Agents Evicted,” ForNowVision, 17 February 2010, accessed 31 August 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB27NSgJEpY&feature=player_embedded.

¹⁰⁰ Murdoch, L., “A Community with Its Own Intervention,” Sydney Morning Herald, 13 February 2010, accessed 19 December 2012, http://www.smh.com.au/national/a-community-with-its-own-intervention-20100212-nxmp.html?skin=text-only.Google Scholar

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¹⁰² Massey, “Power-Geometry and a Progressive Sense of Place,” 66.