How was native title established in Australia?

Native title in Australia was established primarily through the Mabo decision, which was a landmark ruling handed down by the High Court of Australia in 1992. This decision recognized the existence of native title rights for Indigenous Australians, specifically in relation to land that had not been ceded to the Crown. The case was significant because it reversed the legal doctrine of terra nullius, which asserted that the land was uninhabited prior to British colonization, ignoring the presence of Indigenous peoples and their relationship with the land.

The Mabo decision acknowledged that Indigenous Australians had lived on and cared for the land for thousands of years, thereby giving legal recognition to their rights to that land under Australian law. Following this decision, the Native Title Act was enacted in 1993 to provide a framework for Indigenous people to claim native title and to set out the processes for doing so.

In this context, the other options do not fully encapsulate the establishment of native title. Community agreements might arise post-Mabo as specific arrangements between Indigenous groups and other parties, whereas government legislation alone does not encompass the judicial recognition established by the Mabo decision. International treaties touch on broader human rights issues but are not the basis for native title recognition in Australia.