Land Council
The Land Councils , also known as Land and Sea Councils , are authorities in Australia . They were founded when it was recognized that the indigenous peoples had a right to the land in which they lived before European colonization. The struggle for their land rights also includes their struggle for human rights, equal pay for equal work and a life that corresponds to their ideas or appropriate settlement of their ancestral land.
The first Land Councils emerged in the Northern Territory in 1973 and it was not until the 1980s that the same happened in other Australian states. A crucial step in the establishment of the organization was the recognition of native titles in Australian courts. It was recognized in individual court cases that the Australian continent was not a no man's land before the British colonization, no terra nullius . Ultimately, there was the highest court recognition of land rights of the Aborigines up to the legal dispute in the Mabo v. Queensland in 1992.
That the Aborigines were the first inhabitants of Australia was recognized by law on February 13, 2013 in the Australian Parliament. In order to anchor this in the Australian constitution, a referendum has to be held, which the Australian government has announced.
Various local land councils are also grouped and administered by larger, overarching councils.
Historical development of land rights
The Yolngu Bark petition of 1963 is the starting point of the land rights movement. In 1966, the Gurindji Strike of indigenous cattle drovers, which lasted for years, followed for equal wages for equal work. In 1967, the Australian population adopted the referendum on the census of the Aborigines by an overwhelming majority, which is interpreted as an act of equal rights for the Aborigines. In 1971 the Yolngu Aborigines lost their claim to the area where the Gove bauxite mine was formed against the Nabalco Mining Company . The mining company, however, assured compensation payments and the protection of their spiritual places, which was regarded as recognition of property. The tent embassy was built in 1972 on the grounds of the Australian Parliament in Canberra by Aborigines as a political measure for the land rights of the Aborigines. In 1973 the Australian government set up a Royal Commission to examine land claims in the Northern Territory. In the first report of this commission the establishment of Land Councils was suggested. 1973 saw the establishment of the first Land Councils in the Northern Territory, which began their work in 1974. In 1975 the Gurindji Strike came to an end and Prime Minister William Gough allowed the strikers to return.
In 1976, the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (1976) was passed in the Australian Parliament, which meant that in 1977 most of the Aboriginal reservations became the property of the local Aborigines.
Following a supreme court ruling by the High Court of Australia in 2008, the Tiwi Aborigines were granted ownership of the coastal land, including land that dries out during the tidal range . This right means for the Northern Territory that about 85% of the coastline is affected.
After 225 years of British colonization, on February 13, 2013, the House of Commons passed The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Bill , a law that recognizes the Aborigines as the first residents of Australia. This law - the passage in the upper house is considered certain - has to be confirmed by a referendum in order to obtain constitutional status. A referendum on this matter has been announced by the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard .
List of existing Land Councils
The list of existing Land Councils is broken down by state below.
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
- North Queensland Land Council
- Central Queensland Land Council
- Torres Strait Regional Authority
- Cape York Land Council
South Australia
- Anangu Pitjantjatjara Land Council
- South Australian Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc.
- Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Council
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia
- South-West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council
- Yamatji Bana Baaba Marlpa Land and Sea Council
- Goldfields Land and Sea Aboriginal Council Corporation
- Kimberley Land Council
- Ngaanyatjarra Council (Aboriginal Corporation)
Web links
- Land Councils from the Department on Victorian Communities' Aboriginal Heritage Council website
- Land Councils
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Social Justice Reports 1994-2008 and Native Title Reports 1994-2008 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ nlc.org.au ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Our History , in English, accessed February 25, 2013
- ↑ tiwilandcouncil.com ( Memento of the original from February 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Welcome to the Tiwi Land Council website , in English, accessed February 25, 2013
- ↑ guardian.co.uk : Alison Bourke: Australia set to recognize Aborigines as first people of continent , January 20, 2012, in English, accessed February 25, 2013
