Connection to the land and waters is vital in Australian Aboriginal culture and to that of Torres Strait Islander people, and there has been a long battle to gain legal and moral recognition of ownership of the lands and waters occupied by the many peoples prior to colonisation of Australia starting in 1788, and the annexation of the Torres Strait Islands by the colony of Queensland in the 1870s.
Land rights usually consist of a grant of freehold or perpetual lease title to Indigenous Australians.
This often meant that they were confined to living on Aboriginal reserves or mission stations, where they had no rights to land ownership.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up on the front lawns of Old Parliament House, Canberra on 26 January (Australia Day) 1972, by four Aboriginal activists, Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey and Bertie Williams (later Kevin "Bert" Johnson, as protest for Indigenous land rights.
[18] The embassy was established in response to the McMahon Coalition Government's refusal to recognise Aboriginal land rights or native title in Australia, instead offering 50-year general-purpose leases for Aboriginal people which would be conditional upon their "intention and ability to make reasonable economic and social use of land", while reserving for the Crown rights to minerals and forestry.
[22] Unionists from several trades, including builders' labourers, ship painters, dockers and teachers, had voted to go on strike for half a day in support of Aboriginal people, and around 2,000 students joined the protest.
Striking would both disrupt the economy and show strong conviction and understanding of the struggle, and the discussion put Black rights into workplaces, staff rooms and classrooms.
[23] Bruce McGuinness published an article in the November issue of Aboriginal and Islander Identity magazine about the march in Melbourne, which was attended by about 2000 people, including an estimated 16% of the Black population.
This Royal Commission, chaired by Justice Woodward, made a number of recommendations in favour of recognising Aboriginal Land Rights.
The succeeding conservative government, led by Malcolm Fraser, reintroduced a Bill, though not of the same content, and it was signed by the Governor-General of Australia on 16 December 1976.
The land rights legislation was introduced by Premier Don Dunstan in November 1978, several months prior to his resignation from Parliament.
An amended bill, following extensive consultation, was passed by the Tonkin Liberal Government, as the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981.
The legislation was proclaimed in January 1985 and was followed by a ceremony in the desert attended by Maralinga Tjarutja leader Archie Barton, John Bannon and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Greg Crafter.
In February 2019, the ILC became the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC), in recognition of its operations on water.
The ILSC is funded by an annual payment from the investment returns of the Australian Government's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Account.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander freehold land occupies 5%, or 59,489 square kilometres (22,969 sq mi) of northern Queensland.
A Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) can be trustee of this land, who can grant leases of up to 99 years for any purpose.
[35] A third type of land tenure, mainly held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in remote and regional Queensland, is the Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT).
OSTF Founder Mark McMurtrie, an Aboriginal Australian man, has produced YouTube videos speaking about “common law”, which incorporate Freemen beliefs.
[39] Proponents of the original ideas are often related to far-right movements, whose core beliefs may be broadly defined as "see[ing] the state as a corporation with no authority over free citizens".