HIST2227 Chap.2 First Nations and Settler Sovereignties
First Nations and Settler Sovereignties
Sovereignty and treaty
Week 2 asks why calls for a treaty differ in kind from reconciliation or self-determination.
Marcia Langton’s 2001 essay argues that each policy since Federation asked how to fit Aboriginal people into the state, while a treaty starts from nations that existed before the Crown.
Sources written by colonisers
The week also sets John Hunter’s journal of 1793 and asks how historians recover Bennelong’s agency from a coloniser’s record, and whether categories like diplomat or cultural broker help.
Why the topic matters later
The questions raised in Week 2 return throughout the course.
The making of colonial democracy in Week 3 happened on land taken without treaty, the reconciliation process of the 1990s appears in the reform era, and the Uluru Statement of 2017 asks again for agreement-making and truth-telling.
Learning Langton’s distinction early gives you a thread that ties these topics together in an essay.
Key dates to hold
Langton’s essay supplies a chronology worth learning: Batman’s document of 1835, the Bark Petition of 1963, the citizenship milestone of 1967, the Larrakia petition of 1972, the treaty committee of 1979, Hawke’s brief support for a treaty in 1988, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991 and Corroboree 2000.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Langton's five incorporation policies
- 02
Why treaty is a different claim
- 03
Australia beside Canada, New Zealand and the United States
- 04
Batman, the Bark Petition and the Larrakia petition
- 05
Makarrata and the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation
- 06
Reading Hunter's journal against the grain
- 07
Diplomat or cultural broker
Worked example · free
Dating the treaty debate in three moves
- 1June 1972: Prime Minister McMahon replied to the Larrakia petition that it was not appropriate to negotiate with British subjects as if they were foreign powers, denying Aboriginal nationhood.
- 11979: officials took up Makarrata instead of treaty, in what Langton calls a sanitised version of a Yolngu word.
- 11988: Hawke called for a treaty after the Barunga statement in June, then said in July the word was not important, and nothing was done.
Key terms
- Native Title
- Customary rights to land that survived British sovereignty, recognised by the High Court in 1992.
- Bark Petition
- The petition Yolngu clan leaders at Yirrkala sent to Parliament in 1963 against mining on their land.
- Cultural Broker
- A go-between who moves between two cultures, the category Konishi prefers for Bennelong.
- Reconciliation
- A process of improving relations between Indigenous and settler Australians, led by a Council set up in 1991.
- Aboriginal Jurisdiction
- The authority of Aboriginal law over its people and country, which Langton argues survived British annexation.
First Nations and Settler Sovereignties FAQ
Why does Langton describe Aboriginal status in Australia as an anomaly?
Because, unlike Canada and New Zealand, no treaty or agreement was ever concluded with Aboriginal people, and courts declared the land uninhabited. She argues that this denial of prior Aboriginal nations leaves Indigenous rights in Australia weaker than in comparable settler societies.
Were there any attempts at a treaty in Australian history?
Langton lists several. John Batman signed a document with a group of chiefs in 1835 that Governor Bourke rejected, and Larrakia men petitioned for a treaty in 1972. A treaty committee formed in 1979, and Hawke briefly backed a treaty in 1988.
How should I use John Hunter's journal?
Read it critically, as the outline warns, because it reflects the racist language and assumptions of its time. Ask what Hunter could observe and what he wanted readers to believe, then look for reported actions by Bennelong and Colbee that suggest their own political choices.
What does Makarrata mean in Langton's account?
Langton explains that Makarrata is a Yolngu word for ending a dispute between communities and resuming normal relations. She argues that officials in 1979 took up a sanitised version of it in place of the word treaty, after it had been described in W. E. H. Stanner's 1969 Boyer Lectures.
How does Langton use the Mabo decision in her argument?
Langton builds on the High Court's 1992 recognition of native title. If British sovereignty did not extinguish Aboriginal title to land, she reasons, it did not extinguish Aboriginal jurisdiction either, so Aboriginal law should be able to operate alongside the sovereign state.
Assessment move
Draw Langton's staircase of five policies from memory, then explain in two sentences why treaty stands off it. Learn three dated treaty moments with the government response to each. Then practise reading one paragraph of any colonial account for the actions it records but does not explain.
Before Quiz 1, make sure you can explain in a sentence why the outline warns readers about Hunter’s journal, and what a historian can still learn from it.
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