A bunch of nomads - whose land is it anyway?

I am a strong supporter of the need for one to prove his or her link to country. However, I will not be subjected to a non-Indigenous person riding roughshod over a family’s tribal affiliation in the same vein as the Chief Protector of Aborigines did when they had total, and unchallenged, control over our peoples lives not so long ago - and we know how devastatingly wrong their misrepresentations and actions were.

I also heard the same anthropologist was successful in convincing traditional owners to significantly reduce the size of their claim because he heard old tape recorded interviews from people who provided a different version of the boundary dimension. That exercise in fact took away two major water holes from the tribe - how stupid is that? Most traditional custodians survived on their land because of access to a major water supply.

All traditional owners around the country should challenge any assertions from professional non-Indigenous people who dare to offer a definitive position on their relationship with the land - because gone are the mission days of the “white man knows best” mentality.

If similar genealogical mischief was to occur regularly throughout the country, via anthropologists’ unsubstantiated conjecture, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility that this nonsense could be the impetus needed for the ultra-conservative members currently holding office in the nation’s capital to concoct a notion that all Indigenous people are no more than native title squatters.

I can hear the debate on further amendments to the Native Title Act in the House of Representatives as I type "A bunch of nomads - whose land is it anyway?"