Social Network Analysis, Structural Event Analysis and Native Title: Washing away a defunct definition of land tenure

Abstract

The metaphor conjured up by Olney J in 1998, of a tide ‘washing away’ the traditional law and custom of Indigenous communities on the NSW/VIC border, is a powerful one and has provoked strong reactions from various quarters of the native title industry and elsewhere. Since this judgement the federal court and National native Title Tribunal have continued to refine and intensify their assessments of evidence tendered in support of native title claims, often with negative consequence for claimants. This trend has placed great pressure on the effective formulation of evidence by expert witnesses - particularly social anthropologists. At the Native Title Services Corporation (NTSCorp), research..