Land claims need not become a lawyerfest

Chips Mackinolty tells how handbacks do not have to
involve bulk lawyers and hundreds of courtroom hours

The fact that the Aboriginal Affairs minister's plane was late mattered little to the people gathered at Kalkarindji. An extra hour or so was a small price in the wait of 20 years since the Walpiri, Kartangarurru and Walmajarri traditional owners first lodged their claim over 2390 square kilometres of the Purta lands west of Tennant Creek on the Western Australian border.
After all, their ancestral lands were being returned to them so a bit of delay in getting a piece of paper from a bloke from Canberra was not so important. The niceties of whitefella's legalisms was no big deal for those who trace their ownership of the land across thousands of years.
George Niji, one of the 130 successful claimants, welcomed the return of his traditional lands. "It's important land from my father. It's important for Ngapa Jukurrpa - wtare dreaming - and all the places are waiting for us there. Kamira, Jiwurangu, Muunykularri - all those places are for Ngapa, and now we've got them back. We're not trying to take anyone else's land, we are just talking for our place."
The new Purta Land Trust is a parcel of land that was subject to the reclaim process, after initially being rejected by Land Commissioner, Howard Olney.
However, rather than going through the formal land claim process, the land was returned through a negotiation process between the Northern Territory Government, the Central Land Council and the traditional owners. According to CLC Director Tracker Tilmouth, this was an important breakthrough which he hoped signalled a new approach to resolving the backlog of land claims.
"It's not going to be worth anyone's while going through land claim after land claim, throwing lawyers at each other. I think it's time we sat down and worked out a process of agreements so we can develop what needs to be developed," he said.
The CLC and traditional owners have established a committee with the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission to monitor feral animal control, fire management and carry out fauna and flora surveys across the region.
In granting the land, Aboriginal Affairs minister Senator John Herron called on people to remember the importance of the Wave Hill Strike of 1966, which was the birth of the land rights movement in Australia. He also congratulated the traditional owners of the new Purta Land Trust in reaching its agreement with the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission.