Everything began in 1770 when the naval lieutenant James Cook and his crew sailed the eastern coast of Australia and claimed possession of New South Wales in the name of the British Crown. 28 years later Arthur Phillip claimed the rest of the continent and the British monarch family became the owner of the land. At the time of the ?invasion? approximately three-hundred thousand to one million indigenous people lived at all over the continent. Today only one percent of Australians are indigenous people 1.
In the 18th century international law recognized three ways of acquiring power over land: 1.) conquest; 2.) cession; and 3.) ?terra nullius?. Terra nullius was defined by international law as land that was unoccupied or that was occupied by people without a legal representative, without laws, a legal system or a culture.
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