Land Council

Land Councils, also known as Land and Sea Council, are authorities in Australia. They were established, as it was recognized that the indigenous population has a right to the land in which they lived before European colonization. To the struggle for their land rights, including their struggle for human rights, equal pay for equal work and their corresponding notion of life or corresponding colonization of their ancestral land.

The first country Councils emerged from 1973 in the Northern Territory and it was not until the 1980s that this happened in other Australian states. A crucial step towards the establishment of the organizations was the recognition of Native Titles before Australian courts. It was recognized in individual lawsuits that the Australian continent before the British colonization was not a no man's land, terra nullius no. Ultimately, it was the Supreme Court recognition of land rights of Aborigines to the legal dispute in the case Mabo v. Queensland in 1992.

The fact that the Aborigines were the first inhabitants of Australia, was recognized on 13 February 2013 the Australian Parliament by law. In order to anchor this in the Australian Constitution, a referendum is still carried out, what the Australian government has announced.

Various local country councils are zusemmengefasst and managed by larger, overarching Council.

Historical development of land rights

As a point of land rights movement is considered the Yolngu Bark Petitions of 1963. 1966 was followed by years of long-lasting Gurindji Strike of indigenous drovers for equal pay for equal work. 1967, the Australian population census and the referendum on the aborigines on a large majority, which is interpreted as an act of equal area pedal Aboriginal. 1971 lost the Yolngu Aboriginal people of the court against the Nabalco - Berkwerksgesellschaft its claim to the territory in which the Gove bauxite mine was born. However, the mining company pledged to payment of compensation and protection of their spiritiuellen places, what was regarded as the property appreciation. The Tent Embassy was established in 1972 on the grounds of the Australian Parliament in Canbarra of Aborigines as a policy measure for the land rights of Aborigines. In 1973, an Australian government a Royal Commission, which should examine the land claims in the Northern Territory. In the first report of this commission the creation of Country Councils has been proposed. 1973 saw the founding of the first land councils in the Northern Territory that took up its work in 1974. In 1975, the Gurindji Strike has been successfully completed and the Prime Minister William Gough made ​​possible the return of the strikers.

The Aboriginal Land Rights ( Northern Territory ) Act (1976 ) 1976 was passed in the Australian Parliament, was thus connected that in 1977, most Aboriginal reserves were transferred to the ownership of the local Aborigines.

Following a Supreme Court decision of the High Court of Australia in 2008, the Aboriginal Tiwi coastal land was awarded as the property including the land, the dry falls during the tidal range. This right means for the Northern Territory that affects about 85 % of the coastline it.

After 225 years of British colonization, the Australian lower house adopted on February 13, 2013 The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Bill, a law that recognizes the Aboriginal people as the first inhabitants of Australia. This law - the adoption by the House of Lords considered safe - must, however, to get constitutional status, are confirmed by a referendum. A referendum on this issue has been announced by the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Preparation of existing land Councils

The list of existing land council is organized below by state.

New South Wales

  • NSW Aboriginal Land Council

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

  • Tasmanian Aboriginal Land and Sea Council

Victoria

  • Barengi Gadjin Land Council

Western Australia

  • South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council
  • Yamatji Bana Baaba Marlpa Land and Sea Council
  • Goldfields Land and Sea Council Aboriginal Corporation
  • Kimberley Land Council
  • Ngaanyatjarra Council ( Aboriginal Corporation )
Native title in Australia Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) Yolngu people
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