Latest news with #Millewa-Mallee
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Historic native title ruling for Victorian traditional owners
A group of Victorian traditional owners have won a decade-long legal contest against the state government, gaining exclusive and non-exclusive native title rights to sections of land spanning from Mildura to the South Australia border. The landmark ruling in the Federal Court on Friday provides recognition for the traditional owners of the Millewa-Mallee – including those who identify as Latji Latji, Ngintait and Nyeri Nyeri people – and grants them exclusive possession over areas reserved or held in trust expressly for Aboriginal people, such as properties owned by Indigenous corporations. It is the first time exclusive native title has been granted in Victoria. In her judgment, the result of a 10-year-long negotiation between the traditional owners and the state, Justice Elizabeth Bennett said this was testament to the strength of the Indigenous community and their ancestors. The traditional owners will also receive exclusive possession over certain national park areas to be agreed with the state government. Entry to designated park sections by those who are not Millewa-Mallee Indigenous people may require permission, pending future negotiations between traditional owners and the state. However, these rights will not affect any privately owned land. The determination also grants the traditional owners non-exclusive native title rights, including to hunt, fish, gather and camp across the entire determination area, which traces the Murray River and stretches south along the Calder Highway, and extends west through the Murray-Sunset National Park to the South Australian border. 'The parties, in their joint submission, have recognised that, despite the dispossession and other atrocities inflicted upon the Native Title Holders and their predecessors, the Native Title Holders have maintained their traditional laws and customs and have under them a deep and enduring connection to the Country,' Bennett said.
The Age
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Historic native title ruling for Victorian traditional owners
A group of Victorian traditional owners have won a decade-long legal contest against the state government, gaining exclusive and non-exclusive native title rights to sections of land spanning from Mildura to the South Australia border. The landmark ruling in the Federal Court on Friday provides recognition for the traditional owners of the Millewa-Mallee – including those who identify as Latji Latji, Ngintait and Nyeri Nyeri people – and grants them exclusive possession over areas reserved or held in trust expressly for Aboriginal people, such as properties owned by Indigenous corporations. It is the first time exclusive native title has been granted in Victoria. In her judgment, the result of a 10-year-long negotiation between the traditional owners and the state, Justice Elizabeth Bennett said this was testament to the strength of the Indigenous community and their ancestors. The traditional owners will also receive exclusive possession over certain national park areas to be agreed with the state government. Entry to designated park sections by those who are not Millewa-Mallee Indigenous people may require permission, pending future negotiations between traditional owners and the state. However, these rights will not affect any privately owned land. The determination also grants the traditional owners non-exclusive native title rights, including to hunt, fish, gather and camp across the entire determination area, which traces the Murray River and stretches south along the Calder Highway, and extends west through the Murray-Sunset National Park to the South Australian border. 'The parties, in their joint submission, have recognised that, despite the dispossession and other atrocities inflicted upon the Native Title Holders and their predecessors, the Native Title Holders have maintained their traditional laws and customs and have under them a deep and enduring connection to the Country,' Bennett said.
ABC News
2 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Native title win gives traditional owners exclusive rights
The Federal Court has awarded a historic native title determination allowing First Nations people in Victoria's north-west the right to control access to their country for the first time. The First Peoples of the Millewa-Mallee's native title determination includes areas with exclusive rights for traditional owners, meaning anybody wanting to access those areas will need to seek permission from them. The Wamba Wemba traditional owner group, further upstream near Swan Hill, is also applying for native title.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Millewa-Mallee native title win gives traditional owners exclusive rights
For the first time in Victoria, three groups of First Nations people will have the right to control access to designated parts of their country, after the Federal Court awarded a historic native title determination in the state's north-west. It means that anyone who is not a traditional owner of the Millewa-Mallee will need to seek permission from them, as the native title holders, to enter those areas of their country. This landmark determination recognises the First Peoples of the Millewa-Mallee's exclusive possession of certain parcels of land reserved expressly for the benefit of First Nations people. Exclusive rights are the strongest form of native title and, until now, have not been recognised in Victoria. The National Native Title Tribunal defines determination as a decision by a recognised body, such as the Federal Court or High Court of Australia, that native title either does or does not exist over a particular area. Three traditional owner groups — Ngintait, Latji Latji and Nyeri Nyeri — make up the First Peoples of the Millewa-Mallee. On Friday morning, Federal Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett presented the formal determination to claimants and elders at Psyche Bend in Kings Billabong Park near Mildura, in north-west Victoria. The native title ruling spans thousands of square kilometres of the Mallee between Kings Billabong and Hattah, in the east, and the South Australian border in the west. Some parcels of land within the overall claim have been awarded exclusive rights status. The total claim area includes the whole south side of the Murray River between Iraak (about 40km south-east of Mildura) and Lindsay Point in the north-west corner of Victoria (about 130km west of Mildura). Several popular destinations are covered by the native title determination. Apex Park Sandbar, Kings Billabong Park and Murray-Sunset National Park, home to Victoria's famous pink lakes, are all on the list of landmarks covered by the overall native title claim. Typically, native title in Victoria has involved non-exclusive rights. This means the rights of traditional owners' laws and customs coexist with other existing or future rights held by others. The determination announced on Friday leaves Tasmania and the ACT as the only jurisdictions in Australia that do not have any areas of native title with exclusive rights status. Nyeri Nyeri elder Wendy Brabham, who was an early respondent in the native title claim application, is following in the footsteps of her mother. "Nyeri Nyeri Peoples, with their own ancient, longstanding laws, customs and protocols, have had to listen to, and bend to Australian laws, customs and protocols in a constant battle, in a clash of world views. "I hope our future generations of all our family groups will build on today's decision to honour our ancestors by strengthening, preserving and sharing our culture." The native title holders' rights will be managed by the First People of the Millewa-Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, which will serve as the registered native title body corporate. The Latji Latji, Ngintait and Nyeri Nyeri peoples have been seeking recognition of their native title rights since the 1990s and in 2015 lodged an application for a native title claim with the Federal Court. First Nations Legal and Research Services represented the traditional owners throughout the court proceedings. Its senior lawyer, Stacey Little, said the determination was the result of a decade-long legal battle. Native title is not new to Sunraysia residents who live along the border between New South Wales and Victoria. In 2015, the Federal Court awarded native title to the Barkandji traditional owners on the north side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Federal Court documents show the Wamba Wemba traditional owners group, further upstream near Swan Hill, is also applying for native title.
