This Discussion Paper arises from a concern that the current contributions of anthropology in the Australian native title arena are often unnecessarily confined to the production of expert reports and other materials, in accordance with legal briefs and criteria established under native title law.

This paper provides a background to issues discussed at a workshop held by AIATSIS in December 2009, and offers some of the outcomes in order to provide a basis for further debate and dialogue and to inform future forums.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner outlines the historical circumstances that left Indigenous people out of the original Australian Constitution and the arguments for rectifying this omission. "One hundred and ten years ago years ago, Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the Australian Constitution, the founding document of our nation and pre-eminent...

The Indigenous estate, the assemblage of Indigenous lands held under a diversity of land rights and native title regimes now covers an estimated 1.7 million sq kms or 22 per cent of continental Australia. For a variety of reasons, including a restricted common property regime that is the dominant form of land tenure and remoteness...

In the early decades of the 19th century, Indigenous Australians suffered devastating losses at the hands of British colonists, who largely ignored their sovereignty and even their humanity. At the same time, however, a new wave of Christian humanitarians were arriving in the colonies, troubled by Aboriginal suffering and arguing that colonists had obligations towards...