Aboriginal land rights in Australia

Aboriginal land rights in Australia are return of lands to Indigenous Australians by the Commonwealth, state or territory governments of Australia based on recognition of dispossession. Different types of land rights laws exist in Australia, allowing for the renewed ownership of land to Aboriginals [Indigenous Australians] under various conditions. Land rights schemes are in place in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. The land titles may recognise traditional interest in the land and protect those interests by giving Indigenous people legal ownership of that land.

According to the National Native Title Tribunal:

A successful land rights claim usually results in a special grant of freehold title or perpetual lease. A title document for the land is issued. The title is normally held by a community or an organisation, not by individuals. There are usually some restrictions on selling, and dealing with, land that has been granted in a land rights claim. Normally, the land will be passed down to future generations in a way that recognises the community’s traditional connection to that country.

The passing of Aboriginal land rights legislation in Australia was preceded by a number of important Aboriginal protests, including the 1946 Aboriginal Stockmen's Strike, the 1963 Yolngu Bark Petition, and the 1966 Wave Hill Walk-Off, as well as the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 (SA), which established the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust. However, it was not until the 1970s, when indigenous Australians (both Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders) became more politically active, that there emerged powerful movement for the recognition of Aboriginal land rights.

In 1971, Justice Richard Blackburn of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory ruled against the Yolngu in Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (the "Gove land rights case") under the principle of terra nullius. However, Justice Blackburn did acknowledge the claimants' ritual and economic use of the land and that they had an established system of law (Madayin). In this way, this was the first significant legal case for Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia.

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