Where did property come from?

Our concept of land being privately owned (as distinct from just being occupied by the entire community) literally goes back to the Dark Ages.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Charles Martel (Charlemagne's grandfather and the ruler of France) needed to raise an army, but was short on funds. He decided to 'sell' to his subjects the land they already occupied. In return, these new landowners had to provide knights to fight in Charles' army. Not surprisingly, the idea became very popular with other rulers in Europe, and before long the entire continent was being carved up into landholdings.

In 1086, William the Conqueror allocated every last scrap of English land to the gentry (this allocation was recorded in the Doomsday Book). Private ownership of land became entrenched in English society and eventually became law. English real property law is the law we adopted in Australia.