Australia's Federal Court has formally recognised the native title rights of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people over 217,884 hectares of land along south-eastern Cape York Peninsula, in a consent determination hearing held at the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal, approximately 200 kilometres north of Cairns, attended by more than 600 traditional owners.
Federal Court recognises Eastern Kuku Yalanji native title over 217,884 hectares on Cape York Peninsula
Australia's Federal Court has formally recognised the native title rights of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people over 217,884 hectares of land along south-eastern Cape York Peninsula, in a consent determination hearing held at the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal, approximately 200 kilometres north of Cairns, attended by more than 600 traditional owners.
The determination area extends from the Annan River in the north to the Daintree River in the south, east of the Great Dividing Range, and includes Cape Tribulation in the Daintree, Black Mountain near Cooktown, and parts of the Annan, Bloomfield, Daintree, East Normanby, West Normanby and Granite Normanby river systems.
The Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation has been named as the prescribed body corporate responsible for managing and protecting the native title rights. According to the corporation's chief operating officer, Kallum Clarke, exclusive native title covers approximately 35 per cent of the determination area.
The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people lodged their first native title claim through the Cape York Land Council in December 1994, following the Mabo decision, which created a legal pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to seek native title recognition.
The determination is the 33rd under the Cape York United #1 Native Title Claim, lodged in 2014, which is described as one of Australia's largest native title claims and seeks to resolve land rights across Cape York Peninsula. The Federal Court is scheduled to recognise the native title rights of Western Yalanji traditional owners in a separate determination within the same claim the following day.
The Federal Court sat under a marquee at Wujal Wujal for the hearing. Chief Justice Debra Mortimer presided and described it as a privilege to be on country.
- The source does not specify which parties, if any, contested or negotiated the consent determination, or on what terms agreement was reached.
- The source does not detail what rights or activities are specifically covered or excluded under the non-exclusive native title portion of the determination area.
- The source does not describe the practical or legal implications of the exclusive native title over the 35 per cent portion beyond the general statement that access will require permission.
- The source does not state how the 217,884-hectare figure compares with land areas covered by other determinations in the Cape York United #1 claim.
- The source does not provide detail on the 32 prior determinations under the Cape York United #1 claim.
Read the original at ABC News Australia