PHOTO: Stakeholders celebrate after a native title win determined in Cobar. The determination rubber stamped a transfer of lands to the Brewarrina Aboriginal Land Council. PHOTO: supplied
The Brewarrina Local Aboriginal Land Council (Brewarrina LALC) will have its work ahead of it to make use of the land transferred to it under an historic resolution to a land claim that went for 40 years.
The land transfer was part of a native title resolution formalised in an open-air court at Cobar’s Newy Reserve on 14 August.
At the court, Justice Melissa Perry delivered a determination recognising the native title rights of the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan peoples across 95,000 square kilometres of land and water (12 per cent of NSW).
The patchwork of land runs from the Barwon River in the north, to the Lachlan River in the south, the Castlereagh River in the east and Ivanhoe to the west.
Acting Brewarrina LALC CEO Urayne Warraweena said the resolution will allow the land council to create more employment opportunities, such as ranger jobs, and to protect the environment of their lands.
“This is a monumental moment in Brewarrina’s history,” she said…