SUPPLEMENTARY REASONS RELATING TO THE
FORM OF DETERMINATION OF NATIVE TITLE
1. On 9 September 1999 I published my reasons for decision in this proceeding (the judgment) together with a draft minute of a proposed determination of native title (the draft determination). The applicants are entitled to a determination which reflects the findings expressed in the judgment. At paragraph 130 of the judgment I said (in part)
Section 225 of the Native Title Act refers to the making of a determination of native title in relation to a "particular area" of land and waters. In a case involving large tracts of land, such as pastoral holdings or remote areas of unalienated land the task of describing the determination area by metes and bounds would not normally present any great difficulty but in a case such as the present the problem is compounded not only by the number of discrete parcels of land involved but by the fact that the current lot and portion boundaries bear little or no relationship to the boundaries of land which in earlier times has been the subject of extinguishing acts. Whilst many of the 166 areas of claimed land have not been the subject of any extinguishment, there are many others in respect of which native title has been extinguished as to the whole of the lot or portion. Those cases present no difficulty but there remain numerous areas in respect of which extinguishing acts have affected only a portion of the land. The position is further complicated by the lack of definition in many instances of the location and area of land occupied by public works and adjacent land.
After setting out the various parcels of land which comprised the determination area for the purposes of the proceeding I continued:
In the final determination it will be preferable for these areas to be described by reference to their respective lot or portion numbers, and for a map or some other description to be prepared to define relevant boundaries in cases in which only part of the claimed land has been subject to extinguishment. These are matters (about) which the Court must look to the parties for assistance.
2. In paragraph 131 of the judgment I set out the terms of the proposed determination but without defining the determination area. At paragraph 132 I said:
The Court intends to make a determination of native title substantially in the terms outlined in the last preceding paragraph. The final content and form of the determination will be settled after the parties have had the opportunity to consider these reasons and to make submissions as to (the) precise content of the determination. It is expected that prior to any such submissions being made the parties will confer with a view to reaching a consensus as to the ultimate form of the determination.
The text of the draft determination as published on 9 September 1999 is set out in Appendix 1 to these reasons. It was my intention that once the parties had had the opportunity to comment on the draft and, if thought appropriate, to file a minute of their own alternative proposals, a final determination would be made on 9 December 1999. As it happened, the task of resolving a number of outstanding issues proved to be more time consuming than I had anticipated. On 16 March 2000 the matter was called on for mention in Darwin when the parties reported on the progress that had been achieved and identified the matters on which consensus had not been reached. On that occasion I directed that each party submit a minute of its proposed determination by 20 April 2000. This was duly done. However, as there appeared to be some doubt as to the precise agreement reached between the parties in relation to a number of claim areas the Court sought further clarification. In response to the Court's request the Solicitor for the Northern Territory submitted a letter dated 3 May 2000 which was accompanied by six enhanced aerial photographs identified respectively as Sheets 2 of 7, 3 of 7, 4 of 7, 5 of 7, 6 of 7 and 7 of 7, each of which deals with a separate claim area in respect of which the boundaries of relevant areas identified by the parties are marked. By letters dated 16 May 2000 and 17 May 2000 the Central Land Council has confirmed the basis of agreement reached between the parties in relation to five of the claim areas in question. As the areas of adjacent land and waters about which agreement has been reached have been identified by reference to the aerial photographs accompanying the Solicitor for the Northern Territory's letter of 3 May 2000, the letter together with the accompanying sheets will be marked as exhibit NT 46 and the Central Land Council's letters of 16 May 2000 and 17 May 2000 will be marked as exhibits A 72.1 and A 72.2 respectively. The parties have been unable to reach agreement in relation to claim area 28.
3. Before dealing with claim area 28 it is necessary to identify a number of amendments that need to be made to the draft determination and to the judgment.
i) Paragraph 2 of the draft determination should be amended so as to take account of the wider notion of "descent" which the parties accept, and which I have found, includes adoption. For the respondent it is suggested that after the word "descended" in paragraph 2 there be added "(by birth or adoption)". The applicants' proposal is that paragraph 2 should identify the common law holders as
… those Aboriginals who are descended from the biological or adoptive descendants of the original Arrernte inhabitants of the Mparntwe, Antulye and Irlpme estates and those Aboriginals who are recognised by the respective apmereke-artweye and kwertengerle of those estates under the traditional laws acknowledged and the traditional customs observed by them as having communal, group or individual rights and interests in relation to such estates.
The applicants' proposal goes beyond my findings as expressed in the judgment. It would encompass all persons who are descended (either biologically or by adoption) from the original inhabitants as well as other Aboriginals who are recognised as having rights of the type described. My intention was that only those descendants who were appropriately recognised should be encompassed by the description. In these circumstances I propose to adopt the respondent's proposal.
ii) Paragraph 5 of the draft determination includes two typographical errors: the reference therein to paragraph (4) should be to paragraph 3; and the reference to paragraph (5) should be to paragraph 4.
iii) The Appendix to the judgment identifies the various areas of land claimed and gives details of such things as the current tenure status of each parcel and prior acts which extinguished native title in respect of either the whole or part of each parcel. The details provided in relation to claim areas 80 and 86 in the Appendix should respectively state:
Area 80 Lot 7393
Unalienated Crown land
*27/3/83 - 16/4/86 Partly within CLT 104.
Area 86 Lot 7422
Unalienated Crown land
*1/7/59 - 21/5/62 Partly within LTL 1598
*1/7/65 - 5/5/67 Partly within LTL 2061
As a result of these amendments area 80 should be removed from paragraph (a) in the Schedule to the draft determination and areas 80 and 86 should be included in paragraph (b).
iv) Claim area 159 was inadvertently omitted from the draft determination and should be included in paragraph (b) of the Schedule.
v) In paragraph 119(xiv) of the judgment the Kuyunba Reserve (claim area 2) is shown incorrectly as Reserve 1789. The correct reserve number is 1289 as shown in the Appendix to the judgment.
vi) In the final sentence of paragraph 128 of the judgment claim area 145 is incorrectly included amongst those areas which are said to be affected by the provisions of s 47B of the Native Title Act. Area 145 is not otherwise referred to in the judgment as one of the areas affected by the provisions of that section and is correctly included in paragraph (b) of the Schedule to the draft determination.
4. The applicants' submission of 19 April 2000 suggests that the Court has not dealt with the works comprising the retardation dam on claim areas 81 and 82. The submission refers to paragraph 98(xvi) of the judgment. The two areas (as well as area 104) are however expressly dealt with in paragraph 119(xvii) in which I found that the current use of these and other areas is inconsistent with the continuation of native title.
5. Claim area 28 (Lot 8212) is known as the Alice Springs Desert Park. Part of the land was formerly within SPL 92 and to that extent native title rights have been extinguished. The question of public works constructed within the park is dealt with at paragraph 98(xviii) of the judgment where I said:
All buildings and structures within the Alice Springs Desert Park were constructed by or on behalf of the Crown in some capacity and (with one exception) were established, or at least commenced, during the period 1 January 1994 to 23 December 1996 at a time when the land was covered by CLP 1116. The sole exception is the Herbarium which was not commenced until 1997. Apart from the Herbarium all of the buildings and structures within the park which are fixtures, and all roads (including the carpark) are public works which are for the purposes of the Native Title Act category A intermediate period acts. The public works in question include relevant adjacent land but on the available evidence it is not possible to define such adjacent land with any precision. There is no evidence to support the respondent's proposition that the whole of the land and waters within the chain mesh fencing surrounding the core area of the park is adjacent land.
The parties have been unable to reach agreement as to the area of adjacent land in relation to the various fixtures existing on the land at the relevant time. The competing assertions of the parties are illustrated on the enhanced aerial photograph which is Sheet 6 of 7 (being now part of exhibit NT 46). The respondent's proposed boundary of the land affected by public works and adjacent land encompasses a significantly larger area than that advocated by the applicants. The position therefore remains as it was at the time the judgment was delivered, namely, that there is no evidence upon which the Court can make a decision as to the precise area of the public works and adjacent land and waters. In the circumstances, I will reserve liberty to apply in the event that in the future it becomes necessary to establish a definitive boundary of the relevant area.
7. The requirement of s 225(c) and (d) of the Native Title Act that a determination of native title, in a case where native title exists, must include a determination of the nature and extent of any other interests in relation to the determination area and the relationship between such other interests and the native title rights and interests is not one that can readily be satisfied with any precision. Whilst it is likely that in the course of the trial of a proceeding reference will be made to legislative and executive acts which affect the determination area, it could rarely be said with confidence that every such act has been identified, nor is it possible to define with any confidence what common law rights might be found to affect the determination area. In these circumstances I am of the view that no useful purpose is to be served by attempting to particularise all non-native title interests which are thought to exist in relation to the determination area. To do so, without a general reference to any other interests, could lead to the impression that only those interests that are specified affect the determination area.
7. On 9 September 1999, as required by s 56 of the Native Title Act, I requested Ms Myra Hayes Ampetyane, as a representative of the persons the Court proposes to include in its determination of native title as the native title holders (the common law holders), to indicate whether the common law holders intend to have the native title held in trust by:
i) nominating in writing to the Federal Court within 2 months from the date of the request, a prescribed body corporate to be trustee of the native title; and
ii) including with the nomination the written consent of the body corporate.
No such nomination has been received and in fact the applicants through their representatives have advised the Court that they intend that the rights and interests from time to time comprising the native title be held by the common law holders. In these circumstances the Court's determination will reflect the common law holders' intention. The common law holders have indicated that the prescribed body corporate that will act as their agent or representative in respect of matters relating to the native title the subject of the Court's determination is to be named the Artepe Ulpaye Aboriginal Corporation and that they are presently in the process of finalising the rules of the corporation before submitting them to the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations pursuant to s 43 of the Aboriginal Council and Associations Act 1976. As it is anticipated that up to a further 6 months will be required before incorporation of the proposed corporation is effected, and in order to comply with s 57 of the Native Title Act, the Court will make the further orders sought by the applicants for this purpose. The applicants will have liberty to apply in relation to such orders.
8. Having regard to the various matters discussed above, and taking account of the submissions made on behalf of the parties, I am of the opinion that the appropriate determination in this proceeding is as set out in Appendix 2 to these reasons. It will be observed that one of my earlier concerns, namely the identification of boundaries where a portion of a claimed are has been affected by an extinguishing act, has not been addressed except in relation to the public works and adjacent land and waters previously referred to. I am however informed that the necessary information and technology is available to produce maps of any such areas with the relevant boundaries marked thereon if this should become necessary. There would of course be no physical demarcation of the boundaries on the ground unless and until a survey has been carried out. In order to accommodate the possibility that it may in the future be appropriate to amend the determination by substituting a more precise description of a part or parts of the determination area, I propose to reserve liberty to apply.
Appendix 1
(Draft minute of determination published on
9 September 1999)
THE COURT DETERMINES THAT:
1. Native title exists in relation to the land and waters more particularly described in the Schedule hereto (the determination area).
2. The persons who hold the common or group rights comprising the native title (the common law holders) are those Aboriginals who are descended from the original Arrernte inhabitants of the Mparntwe, Antulye and Irlpme estates who are recognised by the respective apmereke-artweye and kwertengerle of those estates under the traditional laws acknowledged and the traditional customs observed by them as having communal, group or individual rights and interests in relation to such estates.
3. The nature and extent of the native title rights and interests in relation to the determination area are, subject to the rights of others validly granted by the Crown pursuant to statute and to any valid executive or legislative act affecting the native title of the common law holders, as follows:
a) the right to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the land and waters of the determination area;
b) the right to be acknowledged as the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land and waters of their respective estates within the determination area;
c) the right to take, use and enjoy the natural resources found on or within the land and waters of the determination area;
d) the right to make decisions about the use of the land and waters of their respective estates within the determination;
e) the right to protect places and areas of importance in or on the land and waters within the determination area;
f) the right to manage the spiritual forces and to safeguard the cultural knowledge associated with the land and waters of their respective estates within the determination area.
4. The nature and extent of other interests in relation to the determination area are such rights and interests validly granted by the Crown pursuant to statute or by any valid executive or legislative act affecting the native title of the common law holders including the rights and interests of members of the public to the use and enjoyment of the determination area according to law.
5. To the extent that any inconsistency exists between the native title rights and interests referred to in paragraph (4) and the rights conferred by the other interests referred to in paragraph (5), the native title rights and interests must yield to such other rights.
6. The native title rights and interests of the common law holders do not confer possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the land and waters of the determination area on the common law holders to the exclusion of all others.
7. The rights and interests from time to time comprising the native title are to be held by ……………………………
THE SCHEDULE
ALL THOSE areas of land and waters in the Northern Territory of Australia being: