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Aboriginals sue Crown over loss of their land

By Barbie Dutter in Sydney

3 September 2002 - Aboriginals have asked lawyers to challenge the Crown and Parliament over the way Australia's indigenous people were deprived of land more than 200 years ago.

They want to seek financial compensation at the High Court in London in a move led by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, representing the traditional indigenous owners of Sydney.

The council knows its case is unlikely to reach court for at least two years because millions of pounds must be raised to cover all parties' costs in case the action fails. But it said the move was the only way to get justice.

Paul Coe, a former barrister advising the council, said yesterday its case was strong. There was "no legal foundation for the Aboriginal people to be deprived of their lands and territories permanently.

"The British did not treat the Aboriginal people of Australia the same way they treated other people whose lands and territories they invaded or traded with," he said. "They acknowledged the proper rights of those people and left their property laws intact."

If the Aboriginals were deemed British, then under Magna Carta "they could not be deprived of property, cultural, religious, or language rights without due process".

Source:The Telegraph (UK)

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