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The Aboriginal concept of land ownership, is different to Western understanding of land tenure. The western concept basically sees land as an economic resource, that can be exploited in a number of different ways ( by purchase, development and extraction of resources), using several forms of tenure such as leasehold and freehold title to denote legal ownership or rights to use a particular geographical area. Traditional Australian Aborigines believed that each member of their social groups …

…economic resource as it provided the people with food, sources of wood, fiber and glue for making spears, utensils and other implements. However the people respected these aspects of their land and were environmentalists in the sense of 'taking care' of the land through their practices of performing increase ceremonies, singing 'Songlines' and relationships with flora and fauna through a system of totemic relationships. (see increase ceremonies, Songlines and totems for further details) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**