Introduction: As something of a prefatory move, I would like to begin with the proposition that Australia is a particularly appropriate place around which to structure a discussion of the lie, because in some way Australia was founded on a lie, and lives the reverberations of this lie daily. Contemporary Australia inherits this lie, it lives with it, savours it, experiences it as a quality of the light, a quality of the air, as well as an ongoing socio/cultural/economic reality. This lie is the lie of an empty land, a land of no-one, a terra nullius. As a concept, and as a technology of colonial power, terra nullius has a vexed history in Australia. Amongst other issues, debate has revolved around the official and documented role of terra nullius in Australian history; in other words, quibbling over what is historically documented, and what this documentation might mean, has resulted in assertions that terra nullius was introduced not as a part of the colonial machinery but as part of 20th century native title claims, primarily to do with the Mabo decision (Veracini 2006)...
Is data on this page outdated, violates copyrights or anything else? Report the problem now and we will take corresponding actions after reviewing your request.