Reckoning with the Past

Book chapter

Konishi, Shino. (2022). Reckoning with the Past. In The Cambridge Legal History of Australia pp. 740-764 Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108633949.032
AuthorsKonishi, Shino
Abstract

This chapter will explore why and how First Nations people still have to reckon with the myriad settler and Australian legal histories that have shaped their lives and histories since colonisation. I argue that we still need to reckon with law because settler law denied Aboriginal land title and continues to deny Aboriginal sovereignty. Tracing settler laws’ complicity with the colonial project, this chapter first examines how the fantasy of terra nullius was instantiated through laws which enabled the expropriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ lands and waters. It then examines how First Nations people have been unduly affected by separate, discriminatory settler laws which governed almost all facets of their lives. Yet, Australia’s legal system to redress these injustices, constitutes new and evolving chapters in the nation’s legal history.

KeywordsIndigenous history; Indigenous legal history; colonialism; terra nullius; protection acts; Indigenous sovereignty; Indigenous law
Page range740-764
Year01 Jan 2022
Book titleThe Cambridge Legal History of Australia
PublisherCambridge University Press
Place of publicationUnited Kingdom
ISBN9781108633949
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108633949.032
Web address (URL)https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-cambridge-legal-history-of-australia/B181A9403346292CF991309EF6253624
Open accessPublished as non-open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
OnlineAug 2022
Publication process dates
Accepted08 Feb 2024
Deposited16 Feb 2024
Additional information

© Cambridge University Press 2022.

Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90262/reckoning-with-the-past

Log in to edit

Restricted files

Publisher's version

  • 35
    total views
  • 0
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

'Wolves about their prey’ : Intimacy and violence in Eyre’s expeditions
Konishi, Shino. (2023). 'Wolves about their prey’ : Intimacy and violence in Eyre’s expeditions. In Aftermaths : Colonialism Violence and Memory in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific pp. 107 Otago University Press.
The lives and legacies of a Carceral Island : A biographical history of Wadjemup/Rottnest Island
Curthoys, Ann, Konishi, Shino and Ludewig, Alexandra. (2023). The lives and legacies of a Carceral Island : A biographical history of Wadjemup/Rottnest Island Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003254843
The Pinjarra Massacre in the age of the statue wars
Curthoys, Ann and Konishi, Shino. (2022). The Pinjarra Massacre in the age of the statue wars. Journal of Genocide Research. 24(4), pp. 511-528. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2021.2023986
Rainbow Serpent
Konishi, Shino. (2021). Rainbow Serpent. In Symbols of Australia pp. 347-357 New South Publishing.
Searching in the shadows : Aboriginal women in early colonial New South Wales
McClaren, Annemarie and Konishi, Shino. (2021). Searching in the shadows : Aboriginal women in early colonial New South Wales. In In Bonnerjee, Samraghni (Ed.). Subaltern women's narratives : Strident voices, dissenting bodies pp. 71-87 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003121220-7
History by design in the Kimberley
Konishi, Shino and Paterson, Alistair. (2021). History by design in the Kimberley. In In Sculthorpe, Gaye, Nugent, Maria and Morphy, Howard (Ed.). Ancestors, artefacts, empire : Indigenous Australia in British and Irish museums pp. 121-130 The British Museum Press.
The “brilliant shells” of Shark Bay : The emotions of shell-collecting
Konishi, Shino. (2020). The “brilliant shells” of Shark Bay : The emotions of shell-collecting. Studies in Western Australian History. 35, pp. 21-36.
Feeling the past : Indigenous history and emotions
Konishi, Shino. (2020). Feeling the past : Indigenous history and emotions. Journal of Australian Studies. 44(2), pp. 135-139. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2020.1753224
J.C. Byrne, entrepreneurial imperialism and the question of indigenous rights
Konishi, Shino. (2020). J.C. Byrne, entrepreneurial imperialism and the question of indigenous rights. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 48(6), pp. 981-1010. https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2020.1765533
An Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography
Konishi, Shino. (2019). An Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography. In 'True Biographies of Nations?’ The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography pp. 139-158 ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/TBN.2019
Intermediaries, Servants, or Captives : Disentangling Indigenous labour in D. W. Carnegie’s exploration of the Western Australian desert
Konishi, Shino. (2019). Intermediaries, Servants, or Captives : Disentangling Indigenous labour in D. W. Carnegie’s exploration of the Western Australian desert. In Labour Lines and Colonial Power: Indigenous and Pacific Islander Labour Mobility in Australia pp. 27-56 ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/LLCP.2019
Perspectives on indigenous voices and historical archaeology
Paterson, Alistair and Konishi, Shino. (2019). Perspectives on indigenous voices and historical archaeology. In In Äikäs, Tiina and Salmi, Anna-Kaisa (Ed.). The sound of silence : Indigenous perspectives on the historical archaeology of colonialism pp. 201-220 Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1850hr9.13
First Nations scholars, settler colonial studies, and indigenous history
Konishi, Shino. (2019). First Nations scholars, settler colonial studies, and indigenous history. Australian Historical Studies. 50(3), pp. 285-304. https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2019.1620300
Crossing Boundaries : Tracing Indigenous Mobility and Territory in the Exploration of South‑Eastern Australia
Konishi, Shino. (2018). Crossing Boundaries : Tracing Indigenous Mobility and Territory in the Exploration of South‑Eastern Australia. In Indigenous Mobilities: Across and Beyond the Antipodes pp. 35-56 ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/im.06.2018.02
Indigenous politics after the end of empire
Konishi, Shino. (2018). Indigenous politics after the end of empire. In In Fullager, Kate and McDonnell, Michael A. (Ed.). Facing empire : Indigenous experiences in a revolutionary age pp. 331-337 Johns Hopkins University Press.
Bennelong and Gogy : Strategic brokers in colonial New South Wales
Konishi, Shino. (2016). Bennelong and Gogy : Strategic brokers in colonial New South Wales. In Brokers and Boundaries: Colonial Exploration in Indigenous Territory pp. 15-37 ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/BB.04.2016
Brokering in colonial exploration : Biographies, geographies and histories
Shellam, Tiffany, Nugent, Maria, Konishi, Shino and Cadzow, Allison. (2016). Brokering in colonial exploration : Biographies, geographies and histories. In Brokers and Boundaries: Colonial Exploration in Indigenous Territory pp. 1-14 ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/BB.04.2016
Making connections and attachments : Writing the lives of two nineteenth-century Aboriginal men
Konishi, Shino. (2016). Making connections and attachments : Writing the lives of two nineteenth-century Aboriginal men. Biography. 39(3), pp. 410-428. https://doi.org/10.1353/bio.2016.0050
Working for the railways : Torres Strait Islander labour and mobility in the 1960s
Konishi, Shino and Lui-Chivizhe, Leah. (2014). Working for the railways : Torres Strait Islander labour and mobility in the 1960s. Journal of Australian Studies. 38(4), pp. 445-456. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2014.952766
The Aboriginal Male in the Enlightenment World
Konishi, Shino. (2012). The Aboriginal Male in the Enlightenment World Pickering & Chatto Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315655444