Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia are grants of land to Indigenous Austrlalians by the Commonwealth, state or territory governments of Australia.
Different types of land rights laws exist in Australia, allowing for the grant of land to Indigenous Australians under various conditions. Land rights schemes are in place in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.[1]
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. 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. Normally, the land will be passed down to future generations in a way that recognises the community’s traditional connection to that country.[2]
The the passing of Aboriginal Land Rights legislaton in Australia was preceded by a number of important Aboriginal protests, including the 1946 Aboriginal Stockmen's Strike, the 1963 Yolngu Bark Petition, and the 1966 Wave Hill Walk-Off, as well as the the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 (SA), which established the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust.[3] However, it was not until the 1970s, when Indigenous Australians (both Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders) became more politically active, that there emerged powerful movement for the recognition of Aboriginal Land Rights.
In 1971, 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 priniple of terra nullius.[4] However, Justice Blackburn did acknowledge the claimants' ritual and economic use of the land and that they had an established system of law (Madayin). In this way, this was the first significant legal case for Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia.
In the wake of Milirrpum, the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission (also known as as the "Woodward Royal Commission") was established in the Northern Territory in 1973. This Royal Commission, chaired by Justice Woodward, made a number of recommendations in favour of recognising Aboringal Land Rights.[5] Taking up many of these recommendations, the Whitlam Labor Government introduced an Aboriginal Land Rights Bill to Parliament; however, this lapsed upon the dismissal of the government in 1975. 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 1976.
The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 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 1976 established a procedure that returned approximately 40% of the Northern Territory to Aboriginal ownership. The subsequent Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981 had a similar effect in South Australia.
Paul Coe, in Coe v Commonwealth (1979), attempted (unsuccessfully) to bring a class action on behalf of all Aborigines claiming all of Australia.[6]