Confidentiality of linguistic material: the case of Aboriginal land claims

Since the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, many groups of Australian Aborigines have, with the help of the Northern and Central Land Councils, made claim to unalienated Crown land in court hearings before an Aboriginal Land Commissioner. The lawyers helping these people prepare their cases have often called ethnographers (linguists and anthropologists) to act as expert witnesses in court, providing evidence relating to land tenure. These researchers usually (but not always) have worked with the claimants before, as part of gathering ethnographic material.