More than 362,000 hectares of land on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula has been handed back to traditional owners in a historic ceremony.
Key points:
- Traditional owners have campaigned for decades to get their land back
- A handback ceremony was held in the small coastal town of Injinoo
- Jardine River National Park has been renamed
The deal will see national park and Aboriginal freehold land — equivalent to 676,000 football fields — returned to three local Indigenous groups after decades of campaigning.
"Today is a very historic day, many, many years in the making," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said from the small coastal town of Injinoo.
The large parcel of land includes the Jardine River National Park, Denham Group National Park, part of Heathlands Reserve and Jardine River Reserve, and two offshore islands.
The area will be jointly managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Gudang Yadhaykenu, Atambaya and Angkamuthi (Seven Rivers) peoples.
"The journey for today has been a long struggle from way back when we were younger," Angkamuthi woman Sandra Woosup said.
"It's really a blessing for us today — to see this finally come to us, giving us our land back.
"It's better our way than anyone else coming and telling us what to do on our country."
As part of the deal, Jardine River National Park will be renamed Apudthama National Park, which means "together".
In total, the state government says it has now returned more 4.3 million hectares of land to traditional owners on Cape York.
Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said the latest agreement was the culmination of a complex land negotiation spanning many years.
"This program is fundamentally about land justice, about righting some of the wrongs of the past," Ms Scanlon said.
"Our First Nations people were the traditional custodians of this land for thousands and thousands of years — they've cared for country and they rightfully are the best people to work with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to manage these really important ecosystems."
Ms Scanlon said the area takes in diverse landscapes, including perched lakes, grasslands, open woodlands, cloud forests, wetlands and mangroves.
It also provides habitat for unique plants and animals like the cuscus, cassowary and the rare Jardine River turtle.
Gudang Yadhaykenu man Nicholas Thompson Wymarra said the land handover would give traditional owners the chance to revive their Dreaming.
"Our identity and who we are has been lost for many decades due to the past dark history that has happened here throughout our Cape York region," he said.
"There's definitely going to be a brighter future for our kids, our grandkids, our great-great-grandkids.
"It's such a wonderful feeling — I'm feeling on top of the world."
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2022-09-07 06:04:13Z
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