Country, native title and ecology

The overtly technical process of making a native title application has obscured one of the central reasons why Indigenous people engage with the native title system" to affirm and promote their relationships with country. This publication focuses on Indigenous peoples' relationships with country, and seeks to discuss native title in terms that are more directly related to those relationships. In doing so, we also describe ways of living on country that inform and critique mainstream land and water management. This volume also includes case studies that are not classified as part of the native title system, so as to broaden native title issues into the frame of traditional ownership. Limitations with common and statutory native title law have meant that native title is not a land justice system accessible to all traditional owners of country. Profound connection to country frequently exists where native title cannot be successfully applied for, or where traditional owners choose not to make native title applications. The focus in this volume on native title and ecology is made because many traditional owners express their attachment for country through their unique ecologies, and the discipline of ecology's focus on relationships links into the holistic language of country. Framing native title with ecological thinking also deliberately challenges the contributing authors to resist being led by the law, culture and bureaucracy of native title. Instead, we bring our attention to issues of land and water, the relationships Indigenous people hold with species and their ecologies, and the challenges and opportunities of native title to sustain life.