Personal Stories
摘要
In order to share glimpses into the richness and diversity of Indigenous cultures in Australia, we, as the collective authors of this work, who include Indigenous elders and community leaders (operating as a Think Tank of ideas), share stories of the harm done by colonisation and the enforcement of colonial laws. The Indigenous authors of this work are also sharing their personal reflections of what it means to be ‘governed’ by the laws of nature that embrace the interconnectedness and complexity of human—nature interactions. These stories serve to reinforce that the ongoing practice of colonial law, which partitions and segregates nature into component parts (land, air, water, soil, ocean) is ill-equipped to adequately represent First Nations interests until there is a system of legal pluralism which recognises First Laws—what is often referred to in the Western legal literature as ‘customary laws’.