Aboriginal land councils in the Northern Territory are representative bodies known as
land council
Land councils, also known as Aboriginal land councils, or land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations, generally organised by region, that are commonly formed to represent the Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australians ...
s, covering four areas of
Aboriginal self-governance in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
of Australia.
Land councils
There are four land councils in the Northern Territory:
* the
Anindilyakawa Land Council, covering
Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt ( Anindilyakwa: ''Ayangkidarrba'' meaning "island" ) is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for "Large Island" in ...
in the
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...
.
* the
Central Land Council
The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern Te ...
is in the southern half of the Northern Territory, covering of remote, rugged and often inaccessible areas. There are 18,000 Aboriginal people from 15 different
Aboriginal language groups in
Central Australia
Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...
.
* the
Northern Land Council
The Northern Land Council (NLC) is a land council representing the Aboriginal peoples of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia, with its head office in Darwin.
While the NLC was established in 1974, its origins began in the strugg ...
, covering the
Top End
The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...
.
* the
Tiwi Land Council
The Tiwi Land Council is a land council in the Northern Territory of Australia established in 1978 to represent Aboriginal Australians living on the Tiwi Islands.
It was established following requests by the Tiwi people for recognition of thei ...
, covering
Bathurst and
Melville Islands north of
Darwin.
History
The ''
Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976
The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on traditi ...
'' established the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory could, for the first time, claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. In effect it allowed title to be transferred for most of the
Aboriginal reserve
An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...
lands and the opportunity to claim other land not owned, leased or being used by someone else.
The land councils are representative bodies with
statutory authority
A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being Primary and secondary legislation, empowered or deleg ...
under the Act. They also have responsibilities under the ''
Native Title Act 1993
The ''Native Title Act 1993'' (Cth) is a law passed by the Australian Parliament, the purpose of which is "to provide a national system for the recognition and protection of native title and for its co-existence with the national land managemen ...
'' and the ''Pastoral Land Act 1992''.
The
Northern Territory Emergency Response provided for the
Commonwealth Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...
to compulsorily acquire five-year leases of townships currently held under the title provisions of the ''Native Title Act 1993'', though with compensation on a basis other than
just terms.
See also
*
Bagot Community
Bagot Community is an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory of Australia located in Ludmilla, a northern suburb of the city of Darwin. It was established in 1938 as the Bagot Aboriginal Reserve, when the Aboriginal residents were m ...
*
Local government areas of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in north-central Australia. It is the third largest Australian federal division with an area of but the least populous with inhabitants as at June 2019. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
References
{{reflist, 2
Aboriginal land councils
Aboriginal organisations in the Northern Territory