Since colonisation, Aboriginal people have been internally displaced from their country.
The doctrine of terra nullius - a land without people - was established under British colonial government and persisted in Australian law until 1992.
It served to reinforce the concept that Indigenous land was empty; it belonged to no one and so could rightly be claimed for Western exploitation or settlement.
This doctrine arguably still persists in the collective Australian psyche, evidenced by social policies and government interventions which impact harmfully on Indigenous people and their connection to their land.
