Conclusion

First Nations peoples on lands stolen for settler colonies have moved across their countries for thousands of generations. These lands that the occupiers call ‘Australia’, ‘North America’ and ‘New Zealand’ are sovereign to First Nations people by virtue of the connection between law, people and land (Schmitt, 2003). For First Nations peoples in Australia, living and moving on Country has a record of at least 60,000 years, stretching the shorelines, the deserts and the mountains. To be mobile on Country is to follow First Nations customs, laws and songlines (Black, 2011; Langton & Corn, 2023). This is First Nations sovereignty – a capacity to govern in coexistence with the land and move with its changing seasons (Duncan, 2013).