Land councils, also known as land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations organised by region that represent the Indigenous Australians who occupied that region before the arrival of European settlers. They have historically advocated for recognition of traditional land rights, and also for the rights of Indigenous people in other areas such as equal wages and adequate housing.
Most Land Councils provide representation and organization of native title for Indigenous Australians, and receive funding from the Australian Commonwealth Government to do this work. Most land councils were formed since the late 1970s to gain native title, and most propositions for land councils have been put forth to the state governments since the 1990s, particularly after the downfall of the terra nullius legal precedent in Mabo v. Queensland (1993).
Some land councils can be governed by other, larger councils, which federate multiple local land councils for representation at the state and federal level.
Famous quotes containing the words land and/or council:
“The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 26:8.
“Daughter to that good Earl, once President
Of England’s Council and her Treasury,
Who lived in both, unstain’d with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content.
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament
Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty,
Kill’d with report that old man eloquent;—”
—John Milton (1608–1674)