In Australia, an Aboriginal land trust ( ALT ) is a type of non-profit organisation that holds the freehold title to an area of land on behalf of a community of Aboriginal Australians . The land has been legally granted to a community by the government under a perpetual lease, usually after the community makes a formal claim of traditional ownership . Land granted under Aboriginal title is inalienable ; it can not be bought, sold, traded or given away. The land trust is the organisation appointed by the community to legally hold the title deeds. The land trusts are administered by Aboriginal land councils .
22-663: The Crocodile Islands Maringa Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a region inclusive of the 20 islands of the Crocodile Islands archipelago, managed by Millingimbi Outstations Progress Resource Aboriginal Corporation through the Crocodile Islands Rangers . It is located around 440 kilometres east of Darwin covering an area of approximately 8,000 square kilometres. IPAs are areas of land and sea Country managed by First Nations groups for biodiversity conservation and cultural outcomes through voluntary agreements with
44-784: A national conference of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders held in 1997, it was agreed and resolved by the delegates present that a new class of "Indigenous" protected area should be formed as follows: An Indigenous Protected Area is [to be] governed by the continuing responsibilities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to care for and protect lands and waters for present and future generations... Indigenous Protected Areas may include areas of land and waters over which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are custodians , and which shall be managed for cultural biodiversity and conservation, permitting customary sustainable resource use and sharing of benefit. The first trialling of this new environmental partnership aimed at adding
66-499: A variety of habitats that includes deserts and savannas , giving plant and animal species the space they need to manoeuvre around threats like bushfires and climate change . Two new areas were declared in Western Australia in 2020, bringing the total number to 78. In September 2021, a further seven IPAs were declared, which will lead to IPAs comprising more than half of Australia's National Reserve System. In May 2022,
88-518: Is a class of protected area used in Australia ; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians , and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisations. Each is formally recognised by the Australian Government as being part of its National Reserve System . The areas may comprise land and sea, and are managed by Indigenous groups for
110-658: Is also able to transfer other crown land to the control of the Trust. The Lands Trust Act 1966 was the first land rights law in modern times and predated the 1967 Referendum . It allowed for parcels of Aboriginal land previously held by the South Australian Government to be handed to the Aboriginal Lands Trust of SA under the Act. It was held in perpetuity for the benefit of Aboriginal South Australians. The Trust
132-441: Is available online from several sources. New South Wales IPAs include: Northern Territory IPAs include: Queensland IPAs include: South Australian IPAs include: Tasmanian IPAs include: Victorian IPAs include: Western Australian IPAs include: New areas declared September 2021: As of 2022 , there are 20 new proposed IPAs under consultation at the following locations: The World Future Council (WFC) awarded
154-567: The Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 . This Bill was introduced by Don Dunstan , who was then South Australia’s Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and who later became Premier. It holds title to Aboriginal land in South Australia and oversees the management and control of those lands including the ability to issue a lease over lands for 99 years to an "incorporated community body". The Government of South Australia
176-611: The Land Rights Act . In Queensland , there are many land trusts, holding about 5% of the land. They were created under the state's Aboriginal Land Act 1991 and the Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991 . In South Australia , there is a single statutory body known as the Aboriginal Lands Trust, also known as the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust (SAALT). It was created under
198-667: The Nantawarrina Indigenous Protected Area was declared. At the opening ceremony in 1998, Nantawarrina was declared "the first Indigenous Protected Area in South Australia, Australia and internationally" by Gurtrude Johnson, an Adnyamathanha traditional owner . By 2007 the kind of partnership agreed and started with the Nantawarrina Indigenous Protected Area had grown to include 23 declared Indigenous Protected Areas covering close to 170,000 km (66,000 sq mi), or 23 per cent of
220-549: The National Reserve System . By agreeing to establish Indigenous Protected Areas, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples contributed two-thirds of all new additions to Australia's National Reserve System over the decade 1997–2007. In July 2012, The Nature Conservancy , alongside the Central Land Council and government representatives from Australia’s National Reserve System , helped announce
242-713: The conservation of biodiversity . Managing IPAs also helps to protect the cultural values of their country for future generations, and has benefits for Indigenous health, education, economic and social cohesion. As of 2020, there were 78 IPAs, covering around 46.53% of the National Reserve system. In September 2021, a further seven IPAs were declared, which will lead to IPAs comprising more than half of Australia's National Reserve System. Indigenous rangers are employed to work in IPAs as well as in other remote areas of Australia, on land management and related projects. During
SECTION 10
#1732852636555264-576: The 1990s the Australian Government was working in cooperation with State and Territory Governments to build a National Reserve System aimed at protecting, for future generations , a representative sample of Australia's diverse range of flora, fauna and eco-systems. As part of this effort, Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander owners of lands and seas were asked, and many who were interested in re-establishing effective indigenous land management agreed to participate in this endeavour. At
286-529: The Australian Government to establish an Indigenous Protected Area on their lands/seas. However, an Indigenous Protected Area can only come into existence where: Most IPAs are dedicated under IUCN Categories 5 and 6, which promote a balance between conservation and other sustainable uses to deliver social, cultural and economic benefits for local Indigenous communities. Indigenous rangers are employed to work in IPAs as well as in other remote areas of Australia, on land management and related projects. IPA data
308-480: The Australian Government. These areas for part of Australia's National Reserve System . The Crocodile Islands Maringa IPA was declared in 2023. The area consists of mangroves, mudflats, coastal floodplains, monsoon forests, eucalypt forests, shallow seas and reefs that are home to 44 threatened species and some of northern Australia's biggest aggregations of shorebirds, including great knots . Indigenous Protected Area An Indigenous Protected Area ( IPA )
330-532: The Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Rangers programs with the"Bronze Future Policy Award 2017: Desertification ". South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust Several states and territories have enacted laws to establish Aboriginal land trusts, but not all. An Aboriginal Lands Trust existed in New South Wales in the 1960s and into the 1970s, a body of which Lyall Munro Snr
352-461: The first proposed Indigenous Protected area was held by the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust (on a 99-year lease, for the Adnyamathanha people ), and, by 26 August 1998, an agreement had been reached to see the people of Nepabunna Aboriginal community engaged and some employed in restoring the landscape to its former natural and cultural value, and Australia's first Indigenous Protected Area,
374-426: The incoming Labor government under Anthony Albanese committed to boosting the funding for managing the IPAs to the tune of A$ 10 million annually; also to doubling the number of Indigenous rangers to 38,000 by 2030, and also to improving gender diversity in employment. Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander land and sea owners (including native title holders ) may be encouraged, or themselves apply to
396-671: The launch of the Southern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area . This Indigenous Protected Area is Australia’s largest land reserve, spanning 10,150,000 hectares (25,100,000 acres). It protects important pieces of the Northern Territory ’s natural legacy. Included in the Southern Tanami reserve are much of Lake Mackay —Australia’s second-largest lake—and an enormous swathe of the Tanami Desert. This IPA links
418-524: The new class of Protected Areas to Australia's National Reserve System, was with the Adnyamathanha people of Nepabunna Aboriginal community, volunteering 580 square kilometres (220 sq mi) of rugged limestone hills, siltstone flats, springs and waterholes between the Flinders Ranges and Gammon Ranges National Parks to be managed as an Indigenous Protected Area. The land selected for
440-529: Was a member, among others. This organisation had land passed to it by the government as well as having some bequeathed to it in private individuals' wills. They were successful in winning various rights over land in various places, including hunting and fishing rights, without having to go to court. They were instrumental in the closing down of Kinchela Boys' Home and Cootamundra Girls' Home . They also encouraged young people to be initiated into their peoples' cultures. A non-statutory NSW Aboriginal Land Council
462-554: Was created in 1977, to assist in the protests by Aboriginal people for their land rights , and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 created the NSWALC as a statutory body. In the Northern Territory , land trusts are governed under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, 1976 , which also governs the way in which groups can make claims to land. The ALTs hold the title to land handed back to the traditional Aboriginal owners through
SECTION 20
#1732852636555484-525: Was governed by a Board composed solely of Aboriginal people. In the 2013 Review of the Act, the powers of the Trust were reviewed and changed to modernise the Trust and the Aboriginal Lands Trust of South Australia Act 2013 (SA) was passed. The other two Aboriginal landholding authorities in the state are Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) and Maralinga Tjarutja , also statutory bodies. The Aboriginal Lands Trust in Western Australia
#554445