Lower Roper River Land Claim
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Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 19 76 LOWER ROPER RIVER LAND CLAIM (Claim No 70) Report and recommendations of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner Justice H W Olney to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and to the Administrator of the Northern Territory Office of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner 9-11 Cavenagh Street DARWIN NT 0800 7 March 2003 JUSTICE H.W OLNEY ABORIGINAL LAND COMMISSIONER GPO Box 2289 DARWIN NT 0801 Telephone: (08) 8981 1799 Facsimile: (08)89813465 7 March 2003 The Hon Philip Ruddock MP Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous AfFam Parliament House CANBERR.A ACT 2600 Dear Minister Lower Roper River Land Claim (Claim No 70) In accordance with section 50(1) of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 I present my report and recommendations in relation to this claim. You will note that I have found that there are traditional Aboriginal owners of the claimed land and I have recommended that the land be granted to a Land Tnist in accordance with sections 11 and 12 of the Act. As required by the Act, I have also forwarded a copy of the report to the Administrator of the Northern Territory. Yours faithfully H W OLNEY Aboriginal Land Commissioner JUSTICE H.W OLNEY ABORIGINAL LAND COMMISSIONER GPO Box 2289 DARWIN NT 0801 Telephone: (08) 8981 1799 Facsimile: (08)89813465 7 March 2003 His Honour Mr John Anictomatis AO Administrator of the Northern Territory Office of the Administrator The Esplanade DARWRN NT 0800 Your Honour Lower Roper River Land Claim (Claim No 70) In accordance with section 50(1) of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 I present my report and recommendations in relation to this claim. You will note that I have found that there are traditional Aboriginal owners of the claimed land and I have recommended that the land be &,ranted to a Land Trust in accordance with sections 11 and 12 of the Act. As required by the Act, I have also forwarded a copy of the report to The Hon Philip Ruddock MP, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. Yours faithfully H W OLNEY Aboriginal Land Commissioner (iv) Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 LOWER ROPER RIVER LAND CLAIM (Claim No 70) Report and recommendations of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner Justice H W Olney to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and to the Administrator of the Northern Territory Office of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner 9-11 Cavenagh Street DARWIN NT 0800 7 March 2003 © Commonwealth of Australia 1999 ISBN 1 876591 22 6 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from Ausinfo. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Mana er, Leglislative Services, Ausinfo, GPO Box 1920, Canberra 2601. Produced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. PRINTED BY: Pirion, Canberra COVER MAP AND SITE MAP BY: mapsnt CONTENTS Page Introduction ....................................................................................................1 The claimed land ............................................................................................2 Status of the claim area ...................................................................................4 The inquiry .....................................................................................................5 The claim documents ......................................................................................6 Other claims in the region ...............................................................................7 Social organization and land tenure .................................................................7 The claimants ................................................................................................11 The Northern Territory's concession ...............................................................12 Traditional Aboriginal owners ........................................................................14 Strength of traditional attachment ...................................................................19 Section 50(4) - Secure occupancy principles ...................................................20 Recommendations ..........................................................................................21 The function to comment ................................................................................21 Number of Aboricinals advantaged ................................................................22 Nature and extent of advantage......................................... ............................. 22 Detriment: Other Aboriginal groups ............................................................. 23 Adjoinin. landbolders .................................................................23 Fishing in tidal waters ................................................................25 Commercial fishing ...................................................................27 Recreational fishing....................................................................29 Limmen National Park ..............................................................31 Northern Territory Police ..........................................................33 Roads .......................................................................................34 Roper Bar barge landing ...... .... ... ........... ........................ ......36 Cumulative effect of land claims ................................................................... 37 Effect on patterns of land usage .................................................................... 38 Cost of acquiring other interests .................................................................... 38 Summary of comments ................................................................................. 38 Appendix 1 Representation of parties ........................................................... 40 Hearings ....................................................................................................... 40 Witnesses ..................................................................................................... 40 Exhibits ........................................................................................................ 41 Appendix 2 Historical overview ................................................................... 43 Appendix 3 Claimant Names Group 1 ........................................................................................................ 56 Group 2 ........................................................................................................ 61 Group 3 ........................................................................................................ 64 Group 4 ........................................................................................................ 67 Group 5 ........................................................................................................ 72 Group 6 ........................................................................................................ 77 Group 7 ........................................................................................................ 79 Group 8 ........................................................................................................ 81 Group 9 ........................................................................................................ 87 Map of claim area ...................................................................Inside back cover (v) ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS (NORTHERN TERRITORY) ACT 1976 LOWER ROPER RIVER LAND CLAIM (Claim No 70) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ABORIGINAL LAND COMMISSIONER JUSTICE H W OLNEY Introduction 1 This report is made to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (the Minister) and to the Administrator of the Northern Territory (the Administrator) pursuant to s 50(1 )(a)(ii) of the Aboriginal Land Rights(Northern Territory,) Act 1976 (the Land Rights Act). It relates to an inquiry conducted by the Aboriginal Land Commissioner (the Commissioner) into a traditional land claim to the bed and banks of, and islands in, a portion of the Roper River in the Northern Territory. The claim was made in an application received by the Commissioner on 16 November 1983 and identified in the records of the Office of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner in Darwin as the Lower Roper River Land Claim (Claim No 70). The application was made by the Northern Land Council (NLC) on behalf of Aboriginals claiming to be the traditional Aboriginal owners of the area of land claimed. 2. The purpose of the inquiry is to determine whether the claimants or any other Aboriginals are the traditional Aboriginal owners of the claimed land and if it is found that there are such traditional owners, to make recommendations to the Minister for the granting of the land or part of it in accordance with ss 11 and 12 of the Land Rights Act. 3. Central to the inquiry is the definition of the term 'traditional Aboriginal owners' in s 3(1) of the Act which provides: traditional Aboriginal owners, in relation to land, means a local descent group of Aboriginals who: a) have common spiritual affiliations to a site on the land, being affiliations that place the group under a primary spiritual responsibility