Native title and related disputes and mediations, in Australian lands and waters : a corpus database approach

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A corpus database approach has been taken in this study in order to comprehend the currently on-going process of conflicts, disputes, litigations, and varied types of mediation/negotiation practices concerning the native title claims made by the indigenous groups in lands and waters in and around Australia. Written public materials have been extensively collected and analyzed. The data corpus mainly consists of 1)mass media reports and commentaries ; 2)administrative releases, such as National Native Title Tribunal media releases and Governmental statements both of State and Federal level ; 3)formal statements as well as less formal commentaries made by indigenous organizations and individuals ; and 4)expert commentaries from political, anthropological and legal points of view.Obtained materials have been processed into a 4.1 megabyte machine-readable database that contains 1,543 records, each bestowed with a number of keywords for searching and analyzing purposes. The survey has been up to the latest sources of March 2004.The research period coincides with the heated debate over the Native Title Amendment Bill and its enactment in 1998 (i.e.the so-called Wik legislation). The legal structure and the procedures of making and dealing with land-and-waters claims have significantly been modified, thus heavily influencing on research strategies for proof of native title and also on the micro-political processes with and among the claimant groups. Moves towards outside-court settlement are so often accompanied with division in local groups (even family groups) that the business of supporting and mediating indigenous people's wants and needs has turned into an extremely sensitive task. The corpus of this study reflects these and other tendencies observed in the period from late 1996 to early 2004.