The ''Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966'' is the

short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. Th ...

of an Act of the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are ...

, assented to on 8 December 1966, with the

long title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. The ...

"An Act to establish an Aboriginal Lands Trust, to define the powers and functions thereof, for purposes incidental thereto and for other purposes". This Bill was introduced by

Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...

, who was then South Australia’s Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and who later became Premier. This Act signified the first major recognition of

Aboriginal land rights Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...

by any Australian government. It also marked a return to promises made in the

Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia The Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia, dated 19 February 1836 and formally titled "Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom erecting and establishing the Province of South Australia and fixing the bound ...

in 1836, by establishing a

land trust Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...

which would hold the title to and assume management of all the existing

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 ...

s in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, for the benefit of the Aboriginal people. The

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gene ...

assented to the new law on 8 December 1966. The Act established the South Australian

Aboriginal Lands Trust 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 governme ...

. The Act was repealed by the Schedule 1, Clause 6 of ''

Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 2013 Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

'' on 1 July 2014.

References

{{Reflist 1966 in law 1966 in Australia 20th century in South Australia

See also

References