The flow-on effects of the Yirrkala bark petitions – the theme of NAIDOC week 2013 – remain relevant today, evidenced in the changing nature of land title in Jabiru.
In August 1963 a petition presented as a pair of bark paintings was sent to the Australian Parliament, signed by 13 clan leaders of the Yolngu region of the Northern Territory.
Earlier that year, then Prime Minister Robert Menzies had announced that the government would grant leases to mine bauxite in land excised from the Arnhem Land reserve.
The petitions were sent to highlight the lack of consultation with the Yolngu people, and history has recorded this as one of a series of events that led to the Federal Parliament, a decade later, granting Aboriginal people ownership of large parcels of land in the Northern Territory through the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
Fifty years later, the flow-on effects of this watershed moment remain relevant.
In June, the Federal Government effectively transferred the ownership of the land on which the township of Jabiru is built to traditional owners through the legal mechanism – the Aboriginal Land Rights Act – the bark petition foreshadowed.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said recent amendments to the land rights laws paved the way for the transfer.
“The amendments relating to Jabiru allow for the transfer of ownership of the claimed land from the Director of National Parks to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust, which will hold the land in trust for its traditional owners.
“The land will not be granted as Aboriginal land until leaseback arrangements for the Jabiru town land and for the two adjacent non-township portions are put in place.
“The Mirarr traditional owners have agreed to lease back the Jabiru land immediately, through long-term leases to be granted to the Director of National Parks, the Northern Territory and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation nominated by the Northern Land Council.”
Ms Macklin said it was important to provide certainty that existing leases wouldn’t be changed.
“Jabiru has established itself as a thriving township that services Kakadu National Park as a tourist destination as well as the nearby Ranger uranium mine.
“Business operators in Jabiru have, however, expressed legitimate concerns that, given the expiration of the current headlease in 2021, the future tenure arrangements for Jabiru are unclear. This has resulted in a reluctance to invest in the town.
“Importantly, for current interest-holders in Jabiru, [these changes] ensure… existing leases, subleases and other interests will be preserved following transfer of ownership to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust.”
