See map below of Native Title as of July 2021.
If you can’t read the legend – dark green is exclusive, light green non-exclusive. Brown is not existant. Orange is extinguished. The remainder means never determined.
Note a few things…
- No Native Title in Tasmania or larger islands in the south.
- No Native Title in the original 19 counties
- Western Australia is densely covered
If you find a map that includes ILUAs in Western Australia, you will see Western Australia has insane coverage. It is like Western Australia is trying to get every little bit of land covered by Native Title or ILUA. A state known for not being kind to Aboriginal people. Does anyone wonder – why?
This may be related to what I wrote about recently on the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824.
I’m not 100% sure how the laws of war operate, but I hypothesise that Western Australia is the only part of New Holland that was not properly conquered from the Dutch.
I missed something when researching the post on the Treaty of 1824. I assumed that Governor Brisbane’s martial law declaration only ever applied up to 135E. I had this map showing the initial martial law declaration in red…
That map is correct at the time the martial law declaration was made. The declaration said “all country the westward of Mount York”. It did not give a west boundary, so it would apply to extent of the colony. And then, I assumed that it was the commissioning of Governor Darling as Governor Brisbane’s successor that extended the border to include Fort Dundas in 1825 – after martial law was repealed.
But I missed something. The border was extended before that time. It happened during the voyage that the fort was initially established. Here is a paragraph from the militaria wiki page on James Bremer:
On 18 September 1823, Bremer was appointed commander of HMS Tamar. In February 1824, he was sent to Melville Island, Australia, to establish a colony. It was intended as a military settlement to secure British trade in the region. It was hoped that a market would open to British merchants in the Malay Archipelago. In June 1824, Bremer arrived in Sydney where he spent a month collecting troops and stores. On 24 August 1824, he left Port Jackson, Sydney, on board the Tamar, accompanied by the Countess of Harcourt and the Lady Nelson. The ships transported Royal Marines and forty-four convicts guarded by the 3rd Regiment. After sailing through the Torres Strait, he arrived in Port Essington on 20 September. The north coast of Australia from 129° to 135° longitude was declared British territory. Bremer rejected Port Essington as a settlement due to its lack of fresh drinking water. On 26 September, the party landed at King Cove in Melville Island to build a settlement, which was named Fort Dundas on 21 October. However, the site was unhealthy, expensive to maintain, and did not develop into an advantageous commercial trading post. In November 1828, orders were given to abandon the post.
Possession was during the period of martial law. By declaring possession on the mainland to 129E, Bremer had effectively extended the earlier proclamation of martial law made by Governor Brisbane. This extended martial law right up to the current Western Australia border.
Recalling – the Anglo-Dutch 1824 treaty applied to “islands south of the straits of Singapore”. Bremer has done the possession declaration at Port Essington on the mainland. Then he set up a military fort on the island. This is strategic – it is not to do with lack of fresh drinking water at Port Essington (A 24 house settlement with hospital was set up there later in 1838 – so he mustn’t have tried hard looking).
That’s why Western Australia is special. It was initially a Dutch possession, yet unlike everywhere else in “Australia” – the British never declared martial law. So the British never properly conquered the Dutch in that portion of New Holland. It’s territory is in international legal limbo. Which would explain why Western Australia – today – is so aggressively persuing territorial agreements (ILUA’s) and Native Title claims. Every agreement puts that area out of legal limbo.
When you consider this, and consider the parts of Australia where Native Title doesn’t even exist – it becomes clear. Native Title is neo-colonialism. It’s purpose is to secure colonial interests.
Image by Stux-12364 from Pixabay