A small narrative to mark the 20th anniversary of the formal
commencement of the event known as the original 1982 Warumungu Land
Claim.
"A case of differend between two parties takes place when the "regulation" of the conflict that opposes them is done in the idiom of one of the parties while the wrong suffered by the other is not signified in that idiom." (Lyotard)
"Aboriginal land claims" cast in terms of Canberra based legislation such as the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act are not Aboriginal land claims. In the back-to-front land of modern Oz, they are non-Aboriginal land claims in reverse. "Aboriginal land claims" under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act are artefacts of the modern Anglo-Australian nation-state. As such they embody and enable forms of thought and practice which comply with modern and nationalising specifications.
It is not surprising then that the claims which First Peoples themselves make are, in my experience, of a very different character to the sort of things which the "Act" allows. The cosmologies and world views of First Peoples - combined with their very real lived experiences under colonisation and state adminstrations - do not allow people to passively accept the terms of reference which are imposed upon them by non-indigenous peoples ideas of what a 'land claim' should be all about.
"With respect Judge, we have not surrendered."
Bruce Reyburn
1 November 2002
SOME QUICK BACKGROUND TO THE ORIGINAL 1982 WARUMUNGU CLAIM
STATE ALIGNED NOTIONS OF ORDER
A STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM
TOWARDS CO-EXISTING SOVEREIGNTY