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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lNative title over sea areas: court24 March 2004 - The Federal Court has decided native title exists over some areas of the sea in Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria. In a decision handed down yesterday it said it recognised that native title existed over areas of sea surrounding the Wellesley Islands in the gulf. The decision found the Lardil, Yangkaal, Kaiadilt and Gangalidda peoples held non-exclusive rights in line with their traditional law and customs over areas of sea and part of the Albert River on the mainland. This included the right to fish, hunt and gather living and plant resources and the right to hunt and take turtle and dugong in the inter-tidal zone and surrounding waters for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal consumption. It also gave them the right to take fresh water and to access the land and sea for religious or spiritual purposes; and to access sites of spiritual or religious significance. In the first main court decision to recognise native title sea rights since the High Court's landmark Croker Island decision of October 2001, the court determined that native title existed over only a portion of the original claim area. The National Native Title Tribunal said that as in the Croker Island case, the native title rights recognised in the court decision exist alongside rights under other state and commonwealth laws such as those allowing recreational and commercial fishing and shipping in the area. Source: AAP
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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