Drawing upon the work of Peter Goodrich, this article undertakes a semiotic reading of Justice Michael Kirby's judgment in the High Court's decision in Wik Peoples v Queensland (1996). It attempts to read the judgment from within the common law tradition. What is revealed is a way of travelling and a symbolic order removed from the established symbols of Australian colonialism. The common law declares itself sovereign. In exploring a way across the post-Mabo legal landscape it institutes a new colonialism, mapping and subjugating the old colonial order.