Fed: 110,000 hectares of land returned to Wagiman people
CANBERRA, Dec 7 AAP - More than 100,000 hectares of land near Pine Creek in the NorthernTerritory was returned to its traditional Aboriginal owners today.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock handed back four parcels of land totalling110,000 hectares to the Wagiman Aboriginal Land Trust at a ceremony at Kybrook, southof Pine Creek.
He praised the Wagiman people for working with the legal system to have their land recognised.
"The Commonwealth government recognises the importance of Wagiman land to the traditionalowners, who have cared for their country in the same manner as their ancestors have donefor countless generations," Mr Ruddock said.
He said the land's traditional owners had identified potential for pastoral enterprise,safari hunting, pet meat processing, cultural and eco-tourism and artefact production.
The Wagiman people also plan to manage the environmental concerns of fire, weeds, erosionand feral animals.
The discovery of gold and the advent of the overland telegraph in the 1870s resultedin a large influx of non-Aboriginal people into the region occupied by the Wagiman.
"Unfortunately, the impact if these early contacts by large numbers of non-Aboriginalswas disastrous for the Aboriginal people in the vicinity of the mining district, yet theWagiman persevered," Mr Ruddock said.
"I would like to extend my congratulations to the traditional owners and all the otherclaimants for their success and wish you well in caring for this land."
A formal agreement over the land was reached in November 1999 between the claimants,the Northern Territory government and the Northern Land Council.
AAP sm
KEYWORD: LAND
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