Our Civilisation Has Rolled Over Thee: Edward M Curr and the Yorta Yorta Native Title Case

Abstract

This article explores the role of history in the Yorta Yorta native title case, with a particular focus on the nineteenth-century squatter Edward M Curr's role in the outcome. It begins by describing the crucial importance of historical inquiry to native title proceedings. An account of Curr's life follows, including details that have been lacking in the biographical record to date. The role of Curr's testimony in the Yorta Yorta case is then explored, leading to some final comments about the relationship between law and history. The article concludes that the prominent status granted to Curr's writings, at the expense of Yorta Yorta oral testimony, is symptomatic of a wider disjuncture between legal and historiographical approaches to knowing the past.