730-394 Indigenous People, History and the Law

Legal Method and Reasoning; Principles of Public Law; Torts; Legal Theory or in each case their equivalents. Note: this subject is also available to arts students who have completed 25 points of first-year history.

This history subject is a study of the relationship between indigenous Australians and the law brought to Australia by the British from 1788 onwards. Topics studied will include notions of sovereignty and the state; the position of indigenous people under the criminal law in early white settlement; property law, possession and use of the land; citizenship and political rights; land rights, native title and the courts; criminal law and customary law. In addition to relevant secondary accounts, students will examine primary materials, including court judgments, imperial and colonial enactments, indigenous statements and claims of rights. Students will have good opportunities for independent research into some of these materials.

Research essay 2500 words 60% (due end of semester); document exercise/book review 1500 words 40% (due mid semester).