BIRRUNGA WIRADYURI
Buu ma rra Bangal Buwu Ray

2012
acrylic on canvas
61 x 183cm

Australia was falsely declared terra nullus after Cook’s ‘discovery’ however, what happened was when they began colonising the lands later know as Australia, they discovered that there wasn’t just one nation, but many hundreds of nations of Sovereign First Nations Peoples, who had been living continuously here for what is believed to be in excess of 60,000 years. Some indications suggest the continuous Culture of more than 100,000 years given the recent discoveries in Western Australia of the rock paintings of the ‘Great Flood‘ that indicated the global change.

Terra Nullius means ‘there are no human inhabitants of a country’ and it’s easy to see apart from colonisation and land ownership why they would want to destroy the human habitation and human inhabitants of Australia to conform to the description of Terra Nullius.

What this painting depicts is the end result of the ideology of the false Terra Nullius. Fortunately you can’t wipe out one nation when thousands exist and we still exist today. First Nations Peoples of the lands currently called Australia were only recognised as ‘human’ and given the right to vote in the 1960’s in a national referendum. Up until then Aboriginal People came under the ‘Flora and Fauna Act,’ ie, were deemed animals. The false notion of Terra Nullius was vacated only a few years ago by the British government.