Social Network Analysis, Boundaries and Authority

Abstract

Accurate technical descriptions of groups possessing authority over land and the geographic extent of that authority are critical the effective legal rendition of native title claim applications. There is no standardised means for achieving such technical descriptions. In the central, northern, and western regions of Australia, claimant evidence is often sufficient to demonstrate detailed geographic profiles of sacred and historical sites and the interrelation of individuals to whom flow primary, secondary and tertiary authority over these sites. In the south-east of the continent this is not the case, with sacred sites and transmission systems very poorly documented in written sources, to a..