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Wik and Wik People win first WCCCA Mining Lease Claim PDF Print E-mail
Federal Court in Aurukun on Wednesday, 29 July 2009 recognises native title over Rio Tinto Wik DetaerminationAluminium 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.

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Tide Turns at least for Sandbeach People PDF Print E-mail

A fourteen year battle for recognition of ancient land and sea rights swept away at white settlement ended in victory today when the Kuuku Ya’u  - known as the Pama Malnkana or Sandbeach People - won Native Title to their traditional lands on far north eastern Cape York.


In a historic sitting of the Federal Court of Australia on a remote beach at Portland Roads, 850 kms north of Cairns, Justice Greenwood of the Federal Court recognized the Kuuku Ya’u claim, first lodged in July 1995, to “posses”, occupy, use and enjoy” 1,980 sq kms of land and waters on the Cape to the north of Lockhart River.


The determination grants the Kuuku Ya’u exclusive native title rights to posses, occupy, use and enjoy over 10 sq km of the claimed land area, and non-exclusive rights over approximately 1,970 sq km of the sea.  It also grants them non-exclusive rights over other areas such as part of Forbes Islands National Park, Quoin Island National Park and Piper Islands National Park.
Kuuku Ya’u elder Mrs Lucy Hobson, who has been involved since the 1995 claim, welcomed the ruling which she said recognizes her people’s deep and ancient bond with the local land and sea.


“This really makes all Kuuku Ya’u feel proud. It’s a dream come true for my people, but a dream that’s been a long time coming. We’ve been fighting for a long, long time for recognition that our country is not just the land, but the sea. We live with the sea, we’re  the Sandbeach People.”


She said the complex cycle of co-existence the Kuuku Ya’u have developed over forty thousand years with their maritime environment has made them deeply aware of environmental issues only now surfacing in the white community.
“It’s important that the determination recognizes our rights inside a Marine National Park. We’ve got nine young people who’ve trained as Marine Park rangers, but all Kuuku Ya’u are trained from birth to live with and respect the sea.”
They get trained every day of their lives, fishing and collecting food from the sea. Their elders train them how to live with the sea, to take enough for their families but not too much. They learn how to read the seasons, how to maintain fish stocks, when the turtles are mating, when they lay eggs. We learn how to look after all this from when we are small.” 
A 12 hr 4WD drive north of Cairns, the Kuuku Ya’us title area includes land around the township of Portland Roads, Rocky Island, Sandy Islet, Pigeon Island, Quoin Island National Park, Piper Islands National Park, part of Forbes Islands National Park, and surrounding seas.


An original 1995 claim over “the seas, reefs, islands and resources” from Olive River in the north, out to the Great Barrier Reef and south to Nyllichii Point was extended in April 1997 to include parts of Restoration and Forbes islands and in November 1999, rolled into a single claim before the Federal Court.


Requiring the consent of State and Federal governments, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Cook Shire Council, Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Council  and Fishing license holders, the claim was successfully negotiated by the National Native Title Tribunal.


Three indigenous land use agreements (ILUAs) grew out of the claim: with the State Government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Cook Shire Council, which has agreed to improve service delivery to the locals.
 
Land Council Opposes Wild Rivers

The Cape York Land Council in far north Queensland has signalled that it will oppose steps by the State Government to protect the Wenlock River under wild rivers legislation.

The Government has announced this week that public meetings will be held to discuss the issue.

The land council's chairman, Michael Ross, says the rights of Indigenous people are being undermined because too much land is being locked up in pristine areas where economic growth is restricted.

"The wild rivers legislation, the world heritage legislation, national parks legislation, vegetation legislation ... there's a lot of layers of laws and legislation on us," he said.

"We haven't got a ground to stand on. I think it's about time the cape Indigenous people stand up for our rights and fight this one.

"We give up so much of our country, then you've got the wild rivers issue come in so that takes all the basins in that area.

"I believe it takes our right away as human beings to live up in the cape and to work our own country.

"How can we plan for our future generation if we've got 5 per cent of our freehold to offer them? It's not right."