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Australia and its People › History
What does the term 'terra nullius' mean and why is it historically significant in Australia?
- Latin for 'new land', the name first given to Australia by European explorers
- A legal term meaning land without a registered owner, used in modern property law
- Latin for 'empty land', a legal fiction used to justify British colonisation by ignoring the presence of Aboriginal peoples
Why this is the correct answer
Terra nullius is a Latin legal term meaning 'empty land' or 'land belonging to no one'. British colonisers applied this concept to Australia to justify claiming the land as their own, ignoring the presence and sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who had lived there for tens of thousands of years. The High Court's 1992 Mabo decision overturned the fiction of terra nullius in Australian law.