ABSTRACT
In order to live beyond the state of bare survival which colonialism would afford us, the re-centring of First Nations laws, knowledges and relationships to land is essential. It is essential that people become free 'in keeping with the original and independent existence of our ancestors'. The colonial mapping of international law excludes Indigenous Peoples from being subjects in colonial international law; only the 'state' qualifies as a subject of international law. The spaces and places of injustice are many, and one course of action taken by First Nations to sustain our survival has been to call upon international law for remedies. In the mid-1990s, the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta formed an alliance with Aboriginal and environmentalist groups to prevent the building of a nuclear waste dump on Billa Kallina in South Australia, a place of importance to women but also important to the health of many generations ongoing relationships to country.
