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Beginnings Political Opposition Land Won Back The Future

When the Balanda (non-Aboriginal) law and their law-making process takes the time to properly engage with our law, we have shown that we can achieve a good result.

Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Former Chairman of the Northern Land Council,
presenting the Vincent Lingiari Lecture in Darwin in 1998.

Beginnings

The Northern and Central Land Councils were originally formed in 1973 to help the Woodward Commission of Inquiry into appropriate ways to recognise Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory. In recommending the establishment of Land Councils, Justice Woodward said:

I have ... felt very strongly the lack of any cohesive organisation linking these various people to whom I have spoken. There is no body or council which can speak for the Aborigines of the Territory as a whole. ... They have no means by which they can formulate a generally supported claim or make their voices heard in a way likely to influence ultimate decisions.

Justice Woodward

Woodward then further recommended that the Land Councils should be formally established under the proposed Land Rights Act with clear but broad responsibilities to represent and express the wishes and opinions of Aboriginal traditional owners.

In 1976, the Australian Parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. Section 23 sets out the roles and responsibilities of the Land Councils under the Act.

Land councils will be the administrative agents of the traditional owners and their success will depend on the extent to which they reflect Aboriginal opinion and translate Aboriginal wishes into action..

Hon. Ian Viner, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, October 1976

The Land Rights Act was intended to be the model for national land rights legislation. Opposition from State Governments and the mining industry, however, has defeated this objective.

For a more detailed discussion about how the Act evolved in the Northern Territory see: Land & Sea Rights - Changes to the Act

Since the introduction of the Land Rights Act in 1976, the Act has been the subject of continual attacks and attempts to reduce the rights which Aboriginal people had reclaimed to manage their land.

Previous Northern Territory Governments' policy of extensive legal challenges to land claims has continued over the life of the Land Rights Act. This policy has ignored the obvious strength of claimants' cases, the efficacy of the Land Councils' approach and the failure of nearly all of their challenges. This policy also has delayed the outcomes of land claims and delayed or denied Aboriginal people their rights to their reclaimed land.

Many claimants have died before their claims have been successfully resolved.

This policy has consumed many millions of government funds and has also diverted scarce land council resources away from more productive uses. However, the defeat of the Country Liberal Party Government in the August 2001 Territory elections has raised hope that the new Government will be less confrontational in its approach.

There have been some positive signs, such as the withdrawal of the Territory's racist Mandatory Sentencing laws, the dropping of a Government appeal against the long-running Kenbi Land Claim and new Indigenous-focused policy initiatives in health and education.

For more information see: Land & Sea Rights - Changes to the Act

Land Won Back

As at June 2002, 249 claims had been lodged on behalf of traditional landowners by the Land Councils under the Land Rights Act. Of these, almost half had been finalised.

See: Land & Sea Rights - Claims

The Future

Aboriginal landowners continue to rely on the natural environment for spiritual, social and economic well-being.

Creation ancestors form part of a living landscape and practices such as hunting and foraging have an important place in contemporary Aboriginal life. However, the sunset clause in the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 means any new land claims post-June 1997 cannot be heard by the Aboriginal Land Commissioner.

While the Northern Land Council will continue to work on the many land claims yet to be determined, there is an increasing shift in the Land Council's work towards managing the land and seas.

Many more Aboriginal people are beginning to move back to their country and are reintroducing traditional land management techniques. Governments are increasingly recognising the critical role that traditional Aboriginal landowners have in caring for the land, waters, seas and flora and fauna in the Northern Territory.

A number of Aboriginal communities are using their land to develop environmentally sustainable economic opportunities such as mining, fishing, pearling and tourism activities, as well as enterprises such as crocodile egg harvesting, pet meat operations, feral buffalo mustering and feral pig harvesting.

See: Doing Business on Aboriginal Land