Indigenous land rights in Australia, also known as Aboriginal land rights in Australia, relate to The Aboriginal Lands Trust Act (SA) established the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust (ALT). In , Justice Richard Blackburn of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory ruled against the Yolngu in Milirrpum v.
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Search decisions VCAT decisions are public and can be read by anyone. High profile decisions If a decision has been in the media, or we think it is important, we may publish it on our website. According to the Attorney-General's Department : [1]. There are fundamental differences between land rights and native title.
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Land rights are rights created by the Australian , state or territory governments. Land rights usually comprise of a grant of freehold or perpetual lease title to Indigenous Australians. By contrast, native title arises as a result of the recognition, under Australian common law, of pre-existing Indigenous rights and interests according to traditional laws and customs. Native title is not a grant or right created by governments. Native title in Australia includes rights and interests relating to land and waters held by Indigenous people under traditional laws and customs, and recognised in accordance with the Native Title Act Cth.
In some jurisdictions, titles to large areas of traditional lands were granted before the Act commenced. Queensland No. It recognised the dispossession of their lands, and in particular that their laws included land title native title , and that Indigenous land rights which had not been extinguished by subsequent Crown grants continued to exist.
Different types of land rights laws exist in Australia, allowing for the renewed ownership of land to Indigenous Australians under various conditions. Also, according to the National Native Title Tribunal : "A successful land rights claim usually results in a special grant of freehold title or perpetual lease. A title document for the land is issued.
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The title is normally held by a community or an organisation, not by individuals. There are usually some restrictions on selling, and dealing with, land that has been granted in a land rights claim. Indigenous land rights relate to the rights and interests in land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, [2] and the term is also used to describe the struggle for those rights. The recognition of Indigenous rights in land and waters is fundamental to the process of reconciliation.
The colonisation of mainland Australia started in , while the Torres Strait Islands were only taken over by the colony of Queensland in the s. The Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia of , which were issued during the period of British colonisation of South Australia , included recognition of the rights of the Aboriginal peoples of South Australia [7] [8] — the first ever recognition of Aboriginal rights on the continent — but the promise was never kept.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the movement of Aboriginal peoples in Australia was controlled by colony- and later state-based laws, such as the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act in Queensland.
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This often meant that they were confined to living on Aboriginal reserves or mission stations , where they had no rights to land ownership. The passing of Aboriginal land rights legislation in Australia in the late 20th century was preceded by a number of important Aboriginal protests. The modern land rights movement started with the Yolngu Bark Petition , when Yolngu people from the remote settlement of Yirrkala , in north-east Arnhem Land , petitioned the federal government to have their land and rights given back.
The Wave Hill Walk-Off , or Gurundji Strike, started with a protest about working conditions, but grew into a lands right issue, with the people claiming rights to the land which was then a cattle station owned by a large British company, Vesteys. The strike lasted for eight years.
In , at the Native Welfare Conference, a meeting of federal and state ministers responsible for Aboriginal welfare, [13] agreed on a policy of assimilation. The measures included the removal of discriminatory legislation and restrictive practices, welfare measures, education and training to assist the involvement of Aboriginal people in the economy, and the education of non-Indigenous Australians about Aboriginal culture and history. South Australian Premier Sir Thomas Playford argued for integration rather than assimilation of Aboriginal people, [9] and others questioned the concept of assimilation, with its paternalistic attitude.
The Trust was governed by a Board composed solely of Aboriginal people.
In the s, Indigenous Australians became more politically active, and a powerful movement for the recognition of Indigenous land rights emerged. Also during this decade, the federal government started buying privately-owned land in order to benefit Indigenous communities, and also to create Crown land which would be available for claim. In , Justice Richard Blackburn of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory ruled against the Yolngu in Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd the "Gove land rights case" under the principle of terra nullius , [17] when they sought native title rights over the Gove Peninsula.
However, Justice Blackburn did acknowledge the claimants' ritual and economic use of the land and that they had an established system of law "a subtle and highly elaborate" system of laws Madayin.
This Royal Commission , chaired by Justice Woodward , made a number of recommendations in favour of recognising Aboriginal Land Rights. The succeeding conservative government, led by Malcolm Fraser , reintroduced a Bill, though not of the same content, and it was signed by the Governor-General of Australia on 16 December The Aboriginal Land Rights Act established the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory could claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. The statute, the first of the Aboriginal land rights acts , was significant in that it allowed a claim of title if claimants could provide evidence of their traditional association with land.
Four Land Councils were established in the Northern Territory under this law. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act established a procedure that transferred almost 50 per cent of land in the Northern Territory around km2 to collective Aboriginal ownership. Paul Coe , in Coe v Commonwealth , attempted unsuccessfully to bring a class action on behalf of all "Aborigines" claiming all of Australia. The land rights legislation was introduced by Premier Don Dunstan in November , several months prior to his resignation from Parliament. In the Aboriginal Land Corporation was established by the Federal Government to assist Aboriginal Australians to acquire land and manage Aboriginal held land sustainably and in a manner that provides cultural, social, economic and environmental benefits for themselves and future generations.
The corporation is funded by an annual payment from the investment returns of the Australian Government's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Account. The Aboriginal Land Rights Northern Territory Act see above provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on traditional occupation.
They came about through legislation passed by the Queensland Government in From 1 January , some trustees, namely those classified as "urban" or "future urban" are able to convert parts of the collective title to either Aboriginal freehold or Torres Strait Islander freehold title. Mer Murray Island the subject of the Mabo No. There are different types of tenures held by different parts of this land, including reserves, leases and freehold property.
There are many remote communities on this land, inhabited by about 12, people. Land reform is ongoing, to use the land in a way which benefits the Aboriginal people.