The Doctrine of Discovery in Australia and the United States
Professor Robert J. Miller Lewis and Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, USA

England explored and colonised the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and
Canada under the authority of an international law called the Doctrine of
Discovery. Europeans justified their sovereign and property claims over
Indigenous Peoples and their lands all around the world with the Discovery
Doctrine.

This legal principle was rationalised by religious and ethnocentric ideas of
European and Christian superiority over the other cultures, religions, and races of
the world. The Doctrine provided that newly-arrived Europeans automatically
acquired property rights in the lands of Indigenous Peoples and gained political
and commercial rights over the Indigenous inhabitants. The United States
Supreme Court expressly adopted Discovery in 1823 in the case of Johnson v.
M'Intosh and American, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand governments and
courts have cited and relied on that case and Discovery to try to control Indigenous
Peoples.

Australia and the United States did not apply the elements of Discovery in the
exact same manner or at the exact same time periods; but the similarities of their
use of Discovery are striking and not the least bit surprising since the Doctrine
was English colonial law. Viewing Australian and American history and law in light
of the Doctrine of Discovery helps to expand the knowledge and understanding of
both countries and their attempts to colonise Indigenous Peoples.

Miller has taught and practiced American Indian law since 1993. He is the Chief Justice of the Court
of Appeals for the Grand Ronde Tribe. Bob has published numerous writings on Indian law issues and
has spoken at federal, state, and private conferences in more than thirty states and in England,
Canada, and Australia. His first book, Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson,
Lewis & Clark, and Manifest Destiny, was published in 2006. He has finished the first draft of a book
on American Indian economic development and just finished another book on Discovery with
Indigenous scholars from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. He is a citizen of the Eastern
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.

Friday 5 March 2010
1pm - 2pm
Law Conference Room
Level 3, Block B, Room 318
Cnr Quay St & Ultimo Rd
Haymarket
RSVP by Monday 1 March 2010
e: Teresa.Libesman@uts.edu.au