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A coloured map showing Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia
Map showing the regions of Oceania

Oceania is composed of the island countries of Australia and New Zealand and the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. In the subregions, particularly Melanesia, many people living in the urban areas occupy squatted land and informal settlements. In Australia, property is squatted for housing and/or protest.

Australia

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Main article: Squatting in Australia
A picture taken during the 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute in Australia

In the 19th century, the British government claimed to own all of Australia and tried to control land ownership. Wealthy farmers of livestock claimed land for themselves and thus were known as squatters.[1] This type of squatting is covered in greater detail at Squatting (Australian history). During the late 1940s the squatting of hundreds of empty houses and military camps, forced federal and state governments to provide emergency shelter during a period when Australians faced a shortage of more than 300 000 homes. In more recent times,[2] Australia has seen occupations in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.[3] The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up in 1972 in Canberra and is a permanent protest occupation.[4] With the 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute in Melbourne, squatters successfully contested road-building plans. The Midnight Star squat was used as a self-managed social centre in a former cinema in Sydney, before being evicted after being used as a convergence space during the 2002 World Trade Organization meeting.[5]

  • Squatting in New Zealand

Melanesia

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Main articles: Squatting in Fiji, Squatting in Solomon Islands, and Squatting in Vanuatu
  • REDIRECT: Squatting in West Papua / Squatting in Nauru / Squatting in Papua New Guinea

Melanesia includes the states of Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Between 40 and 50 percent of people living in urban areas occupy [squatted land and informal settlements.[6]

Micronesia

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A coloured map showing Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia
Pacific cultural areas

Informal settlements in Kiribati are known as squatter settlements, the same as in Fiji and Samoa.[6] Unlike most Pacific Island countries, it is possible to sell or buy customary land in Kiribati. Zoning laws are not implemented by the government and not widely recognised by local people.[7] On the island of Kiritimati, squatters live in both villages and on old Burns Philp copra plantations.[6]

The Federated States of Micronesia is made up of four states, namely Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap. Land ownership is mainly customary and inherited. Foreigners are not permitted to be owners.[8] When Yapese outer islanders move to Yap Proper, they are either allotted land by the council or start squatting.[9] Likewise, Chuukese outer islanders moving to the capital Weno become squatters.[10]

New Zealand

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In the 1850s, much of New Zealand was colonised by settlers known as pastoral squatters, in a similar fashion to Australia.[11] The principle of adverse possession does exist in New Zealand, although it is rarely exercised.[12]

Polynesia

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Country circled on map
Cook Islands on globe

On Rarotonga, the largest island in Cook Islands, three informal settlements are inhabited by people from Manihiki, Penrhyn and Pukapuka. The 3,000 dwellers are known as squatters although they have permission to live on the customary land.[13] In Tuvalu, the population was 11,126 in 2007.[14] Families living in squatter areas do not have sanitation or drinking water.[15]

Notes

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The squattocracy". State Library of Victoria. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  2. ^ McIntyre, Iain (2020-08-31). "Squatting's place in winning Emergency Housing, 1945-48". The Commons Social Change Library. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  3. ^ McIntyre, Iain (2020-08-31). "Resources About Australian Housing Justice and Unwaged Rights Campaigns". The Commons Social Change Library. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  4. ^ "The Aboriginal Tent Embassy". The Commons Social Change Library. 2019-03-29. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  5. ^ Berry, Vanessa (2016). "The Excess and Potential of the Movie Theatre Ruin: The Midnight Star" (PDF). Transformations (28). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Jones, Paul (2011). "Searching for a little bit of utopia – understanding the growth of squatter and informal settlements in Pacific towns and cities". Australian Planner. 49 (4): 327–338. doi:10.1080/07293682.2011.626565. S2CID 110121547.
  7. ^ Jones, Paul (2005). "Managing urban development in the pacific: Key themes and issues". Australian Planner. 42 (1): 39–46. doi:10.1080/07293682.2005.9982403. S2CID 109748860.
  8. ^ Doran, Kevin (2004). Private Lands Conservation in the Federated States of Micronesia. University of Colorado Law School. pp. 21–22.
  9. ^ Ames, Todd T. (2012). "The Greening of Yap: The Transformative Reemergence of Subsistence Agriculture and Its Impact on Rural Community Development in Yap, FSM". Pacific Asia Inquiry. 3 (1).
  10. ^ Henry, Rosita; Jeffrey, William (2008). "Waterworld: The heritage dimensions of 'climate change' in the Pacific". Historic Environment. 21 (1).
  11. ^ Weaver, John C. (1999). "Frontiers into assets: The social construction of property in New Zealand, 1840–65". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 27 (3): 17–54. doi:10.1080/03086539908583072.
  12. ^ Tyler, Claire. "Squatters Rights In New Zealand". Rainey Collins. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  13. ^ Batchelor, John (1987). "Squatters on Rarotonga, Cook Islands". In Mason, Leonard; Hereniko, Patricia (eds.). In Search of a Home. Editorips@usp.ac.fj. pp. 230–235. ISBN 978-982-01-0016-9.
  14. ^ Report on the Assessment of the Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Actions for Small Islands Developing States, and the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the BPOA (PDF). United Nations. 2010.
  15. ^ Priorities of the people: Hardship in Tuvalu (PDF). 2003.
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