threenewpadlocks
Brownlow Medallist
It took until the Mabo decision in 1992 for the English common law system to recognise the fact that Indigenous Australians, at least in such a common law sense, were the owners of the land pre-1788, and as such the act of the British colonising took land away from Indigenous AustraliansNo they weren’t. It was nowhere near what it is now then, but still was the most fair and progressive system in the world then. English Common Law was always and still is the most fair and progressive of all the known systems there is. That is why there is and can be reconciliation under it now. Nothing was ever perfect in history. What we do from now is important. Equality before the law should always be the goal, that is peak progress. Equality of outcomes is a retrogressive concept to rectify past wrongs in a backwards way.
In some respects the "fair and progressive" system you describe took until 1992 to catch up