Native Title

Our Claim For Our Native Title

The Native Title Act (1993) of Australia was written after the High Court Mabo case. As a result of the case, the High Court finally recognised that Australia was not terra nullius and that there was prior ownership of the land, with laws and customs already in place, before British occupation. This meant that Aboriginal Australians could now embark upon the process of legally reacquiring their ancestral homelands. Below we share the Turrbal peoples’ experience with the Native Title Act (1993).

In 1998, we, the Turrbal people lodged our Native Title Claim over the Brisbane area. Following this lodgement, our claim successfully progressed to registration status pursuant to the requirements of a mandatory registration test. The acceptance by the court of our application meant that, we, the Turrbal people had a prima facie case that could advance in the courts. This was the first native title claim over a city in Australia and was a turning point in the nation’s history.

In 2015, we went through the first level of the federal court in which the judge ruled that there was no Native Title in Brisbane. We appealed this decision. In 2017, the full court upheld the original decision. It must be noted that we were self-representing at both levels of the court. At the moment we are assessing our next steps and we will continue on our journey towards legal recognition of our cultural identity.