History Australia · 2012 · 11 citations · 0 references
LawAnthropologyCultural StudiesIndigenous Peoples' RightsIndigenous StudiesOral TraditionIndigenous HistoriesIndigenous KnowledgeIndigenous Land RightsIndigenous PeoplesIndigenous RightsLand RightsCrown Land RegimesIndigenous ClaimsIndigenous Land ManagementIndigenous Land RelationsIndigenous Land RepresentationOral Tradition MethodologyRights To Traditional LandsSettler Colonial Land Relations
Across Victoria and New South Wales, Aboriginal people claim that Crown land reserves set aside in the second half of the nineteenth century were granted or deeded to them by Queen Victoria. This paper spells out approaches to interpreting this longstanding oral tradition, with particular reference to documentation and discussion of it within mid twentieth century ethnography and in the context of activist research as part of the fledgling land rights campaign in the early 1970s. In addition to recognising the claim’s tenacity over time, the paper suggests that greater consideration of the specific contexts within which it had currency and circulated can generate new insights into its meanings and uses.This article has been peer-reviewed