| Wik and Wik People win first WCCCA Mining Lease Claim |
 |
 |
 |
Federal Court in Aurukun on Wednesday, 29 July 2009 recognises native title over Rio Tinto   Aluminium Limited’s bauxite mining leases to the south of the Embley River.Traditional Owners of Western Cape York made Native Title history today when the Honourable Justice Andrew Greenwood of the Federal Court of Australia recognised the first native title made under a Western Cape Communities Coexistence Agreement (WCCCA) to a further 1,200km² of Wik and Wik Way traditional land and waters covered by part of Rio Tinto Aluminium Limited’s (RTA, formerly Comalco) bauxite mining leases. The uncontested claim follows consent determinations in 2000 and 2004 over 18,600km² of traditional land and waters in Aurukun Shire, Pormpuraaw Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT),Napranum DOGIT south of Embley River, a number of pastoral leases and unallocated State land. It follows over four years of negotiations with State Government, RTA, Cook Shire Council and other parties and 16 years of legal action during which some original claimants passed away. Traditional Owner Martha Koowarta, widow of Wik Land Right champion John Koowarta, tearfully welcomed it. “It has been a long "hard battle to win this. My husband died before he could see it, but he and all the others would be pleased. He told us the struggle for our land right will not stop yet. We will have to be strong and keep fighting for our rights because it will go on." In 1957 the Bjelke-Petersen government carved bauxite mining leases from Wik lands without consultation then declared a National Park to prevent their return, a tactic which still resonates with Cape York communities now facing new restrictions on Traditional Ownership from Wild Rivers legislation which they say will limit Indigenous economic independence. In March 2001 the Wik and Wik Way Peoples and eleven other traditional owner groups affected by RTA’s presence and operations in western Cape York, RTA, the State, a number of Aboriginal community councils and Cape York Land Council entered into the Western Cape Communities Coexistence Agreement (WCCCA) which gives traditional owners participation, opportunities and benefits from RTA’s bauxite mining operations, certainty to future mining and a better framework for claim resolution in areas covered by RTA’s bauxite mining leases. In September 2001, the Wik and Wik Way redrafted claim to lands covering RTA’s bauxite leases south of Embley River. Download Media Release |
