How Did James Cook Use Land In Australia

Dominant countries during periods of land discovery often used treaties from pervious eras to justify their taking of lands. Australia was no exception when in April 1770, James Cook landed at Botany Bay. He raised the British flag, and carved his name in a tree, formally declaring that the discovery of the great south land was for the British Crown. There were two different ways lands could be claimed per the Doctrine of Discovery which Cook used. One was with native consent and understanding, the other by claiming the land uninhabited. Cook took the option which has now been viewed as wrong. He claimed that the land was Terra Nullius or ‘no man’s land’ empty and void of people.

Lieutenant James Cook left Plymouth 25th August, 1768 in search

It also stated that if they could convert them, they could otherwise enslaving was acceptable. The Doctrine of Discovery went further and stated that if the lands were not being used as the European legal system understood they could be classed as Terra Nullius. This included farming and animal husbandry. Indigenous members of Australia during this period, did have other practices that were ignored when land was claimed.

The indigenous people were traditional hunter gathers and spent much of their time as semi nomads (Miller et al., 2010, p. 174). However, they were not illiterate in bush craft in regards to the substance farming of fish and farming of eels. The Indigenous people had a tie with the land, it was and still is their spiritual being, a continual link (Miller et al., 2010, p. 174). It defines where people live and where people come from to other indigenous people. The indigenous people used fire to regrow land to keep a supply of foods such as berries. Nonetheless, these things were dismissed when Cook claimed the land as Terra

Many of the men were taken as slaves, which was again in accordance of the Doctrine if Discovery (Miller et al., 2010, p. 176). Hunting and gathering grounds were taken for European use to farm and house the new settlers. The original inhabitants of the lands were nothing more than a problem to be ignored or eliminated. This continued for over two centuries until members of the Murray Island men took legal action to right this wrong (Perkins et al., 2010, pp. 15-16).

In 1984 Edward Koiki Mabo, along with four other members of the Murray Island community, lodged legal proceeding against the Queensland Government. The claim put forth by the men was that the land in 1770 was not ‘no man’s land’ as declared by Cook, and the people of the Murray Islands were the rightful owners. One important claim of the lodgement documents, was that it was for both the land and the waters around the islands that was their cultural home (Perkins et al., 2010, p.