The Mabo decision rejected terra nullius and recognized native title as coexisting with the rights of which entity?

• A. The Parliament
• B. The Governor-General
• C. The High Court
• D. The Crown

Answer: (D)

Mabo shows that land in Australia isn’t owned only by the colonisers. The court recognised that Indigenous peoples’ traditional laws and customs gave them native title to land, and that this native title can exist alongside the sovereignty of the Crown over Australian lands. In this context, the Crown holds the ultimate or radical title—the sovereign authority over land—while native title acknowledges ongoing Indigenous rights that coexist with that sovereignty. The idea is that Indigenous land rights can be recognized within Australian law without erasing the Crown’s overarching sovereignty.