Recognizing Aboriginal Title: The Mabo Case and Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism

Extract

Recognizing Aboriginal Title: The Mabo Case and Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism, Peter H. Russell, Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press, 2005, pp. xii, 470.

Peter Russell's insightful book on Aboriginal land rights in Australia weaves together two tales, that of Indigenous crusader Eddie Koiki Mabo and the slow and arduous struggle of Torres Strait Islanders and mainland Aborigines to have their native land rights recognized by Australian governments in the hope of forging a new, post-colonial relationship. Along the way, Russell places these stories in the context of the push and pull of international events and movements that affected Australia's domestic politics and assesses the political progress of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the United States and New Zealand.