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Joy for Aborigines as 'people of rainforest' win control of land

By ROB TAYLOR IN CANBERRA

3 January 2007 (The Scotsman) - ABORIGINES yesterday won a ten-year fight for control of World Heritage-listed rainforests in the centre of Australia's wealthy east coast, sealing one of the country's biggest native land deals.

The Githabul people - ten families comprising about 250 individuals - will help manage 19 national parks and state forests covering 3,700 square miles in New South Wales, including mountain peaks said to be home to powerful ancestral spirits.

The area lies beside some of Australia's most pristine coastal scenery, including the Byron Bay resort and tourist beaches and cities of southern Queensland.

In 1992, Australia's High Court ruled Aborigines had a right to ancestral lands used before white settlement and a lower court ruled in favour of a native land claim over the city of Perth, although the government has appealed against that decision.

As part of the agreement, to be formally signed later this year, the Githabul tribe gave up any claim on farmland within its traditional area.

The tribe was given native title rights over the national parks and state forests, and freehold title to an unused nursery, an old forest rangers' station and three sacred sites, including a water spring and mountain.
Trevor Close, one of the claimants, said the agreement would allow his "people of the rainforest" to hunt, fish and run businesses near the parks without fear of punishment.

"The claim was lodged because our boys were sick of being pulled up [by police and park authorities] for doing what they had always done," he said. "A lot of people will say in ten years from now that we gave up too much. But they gave us more than we asked for."

Mr Close said the deal would help Aborigines get jobs. "Under the agreement, the indigenous community will have statutory obligations for the management plans. It is going to be a steep learning curve," he said.

Cazna Williams, a Githabul elder, will be given ownership of three culturally important areas, including a roadside water spring and Capeen Mountain - said to be the resting place of the skull of Nyihmbuyn, a powerful spirit - which she is not allowed to visit as it is a men's place.

She said anyone would still be able to drink from the spring and walk in the area. "In Aboriginal culture, we don't own the land, it owns us," she said.

Bob Debus, the state environment minister, said the agreement "acknowledges Aboriginal people as traditional owners and gives them a greater say in how national parks are managed and conserved".
The Githabul traced their genealogy back to 1790 and their original ancestor, Yagoi, using records kept by United Aborigines Missionaries, who gave out rations on the basis of skin colour.

Many of Australia's 460,000 Aborigines live in remote communities with poor access to jobs, good housing, health services and education. They account for about 2.3 per cent of the 20 million population.

Source:The Scotsman

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