Land rights and aboriginal sovereignty

In 1988 Australia celebrated two hundred years of European settlement. At its annual conference the Australian Division of the Australasian Association of Philosophy marked the occasion with a symposium on claims by Aboriginal p_eople for compensation arising out of that settlement. The two papers below were presented at the symposium and were subsequently accepted for publication by the previous Editor. Though they are appearing well after the bicentennial events, the issues they address remain topical both in Australia, in New Zealand which in 1990 is celebrating its founding one hundred and fifty years ago with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and in other countries where European settlement impacted on indigenous peoples [Ed.]