White-Washing Away Native Title Rights: The Yorta Yorta Land Claim Case and the 'Tide of History'‪.‬

Recognising Aborigines as the first inhabitants of Australia in a preamble to a proposed revised Constitution is supported by nearly two-thirds of all Australians. (1) This recognition may be a vital symbol of Australia's national maturity and identity in acknowledging its history. (2) But symbols do little practically to redress the past dispossession of Aboriginal people from their traditional homelands, and the present inability or unwillingness to redress this by governments or the courts. Current trends in recognising native title claims do not provide much hope that real progress is being made. In the past year, the passage of federal government legislation and a major native title legal judgement have further undermined Aboriginal land rights. The Howard Government's Native Title Amendment Act was passed, with minor amendments, in late 1998. It involved a significant watering down of the Native Title Act 1993, with big losses for native title holders and claimants. (3)