ON THIS DAY in 1971, Blackburn J of the Nothern Territory Supreme Court delivered Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971) 17 FLR 141.

In an attempt to protect their sacred sites, the Yolngu people challenged the validity of leases granted by the Commonwealth to a mining company. The people alleged that they held a common law right of ownership of the land under the doctrine of native title. Under the doctrine, native title is deemed to have existed at the time of settlement and continued after settlement.

The claim was unsuccessful. Blackburn J held that the doctrine of native title did not form part of the law of Australia as there had been peaceful settlement of unoccupied land (the fiction of terra nullius).

The Gove Land rights case was overturned by the Mabo case in 1992.