‘Terra nullius’ meant ‘land with no owners’. From when Europeans arrived in Australia it was the legal idea that Indigenous people did not own their land, so Europeans were allowed to take it from them. For many years, particularly from the 1950s, some Indigenous and other Australians fought against this unfairness. They argued that Indigenous people had traditional rights to some of their land. Eddie Mabo and several others from the Torres Strait Islands were able to prove in court that they had a form of ownership called ‘native title’ over their land. So from 1992 the Australian law recognised that Indigenous Australians did ‘own’ their land when Europeans arrived, and therefore may claim it back or, in some cases, be compensated for losing it.