What does Terra Nullus mean?

Answer 1

Terra Nullius is the latin term that was applied to the land which is now the Commonwealth of Australia as claimed in 1770 by Captain James Cook RN. A recent SBS television series claiming to tell the truth about the first Australians, is deliberately lying about the real meaning of 'Terra Nullius" It is claiming that it means " unoccupied land" . This may suit the producers of the program to whip up anti British sentiment, however it is a straight out lie.

Terra Nullius as it was used and understood in 1770 meant " land belonging to no one" It did not mean unoccupied land which infers that the British did not believe that the original aborigional were actually humans worth mentioning.

To look at historical events through the eyes, ethics and morality of 21st century thinking, is to totally misunderstand historical events. In biblical times it was not considered wrong to own slaves. Indeed most of our Christian Patriarch's owned slaves but in The Bible they are called man servants and maid servants. In reality however they were slaves who were the sole property of their owner who had the power of life and death over them.

The thinking at the time in 1770 was that the newely discovered land down under was not owned by any of the accepted world powers and therefore free for colonisation and claiming by the first country to claim it. By the thinking, ethics and morality that was prevalent at the time, this newely discovered land was " land belonging to no one"

Answer 2

No Man's Land