The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act provides the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. The Act was strongly based on the recommendations of Justice Woodward, who chaired the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission (also known as the "Woodward Royal Commission"). The Whitlam government first introduced a Bill to Parliament; however, this lapsed upon the dismissal of the government in 1975. The conservative government, led by Malcolm Fraser, reintroduced a Bill, though not of the same content, and this was signed by the Governor-General of Australia on 16 December 1976.
The Act is significant in that it was the first of the Aboriginal land rights acts, allowing for a claim of title if claimants can provide evidence of their traditional association with land. About 50% of the Northern Territory land and 85% of its coastline are owned communally by Aboriginals.
There are four land councils established under the Act to represent Aboriginal landowners:
- Central Land Council is in the southern half of the Northern Territory
- Northern Land Council covering the Top End
- Tiwi Land Council covering Bathurst and Melville Islands north of Darwin
- Anindilyakwa Land Council covering Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
In August 2006, the Federal Government amended the Act. The "Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment Bill 2006" added several clauses which intend to promote economic development in remote townships. Amongst these, low interest loans were subsidised to promote private home ownership. The Amendment does away with communal ownership of certain parcels of lands previously vested as parts of inalienable Aboriginal Land Trusts.
The Amendment also prescribed for the 'fast-tracking' of mining negotiations between corporations and Indigenous communities, minimising the role of the large land councils on behalf of land owning groups.
Famous quotes containing the words aboriginal, land, rights and/or act:
“John Eliot came to preach to the Podunks in 1657, translated the Bible into their language, but made little progress in aboriginal soul-saving. The Indians answered his pleas with: ‘No, you have taken away our lands, and now you wish to make us a race of slaves.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program. Connecticut: A Guide to Its Roads, Lore, and People (The WPA Guide to Connecticut)
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”
—Emma Lazarus (1849–1887)
“The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as human beings, the God-given right to be a human being. Our common goal is to obtain the human rights that America has been denying us. We can never get civil rights in America until our human rights are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as humans.”
—Malcolm X (1925–1965)
“Paradoxically, the most constructive thing women can do ... is to write, for in the act of writing we deny our mutedness and begin to eliminate some of the difficulties that have been put upon us.”
—Dale Spender (b. 1943)