The application
11 The application was filed on 29 September 2006. A further amended application was filed on 17 July 2019. It seeks a determination of native title on behalf of the Widi People over land and waters within the external boundaries of the application area.
12 The respondents to the application are the State of Queensland, Isaac Regional Council, Mackay Regional Council, Ergon Energy Corporation Ltd, Telstra Corporation Ltd, Aurizon Network Ltd, Marubeni Coal Pty Ltd, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Australia Pty Ltd, Queensland Coal Pty Ltd, Sumisho Coal Development Queensland Pty Ltd, Hail Creek Coal Holdings Pty Ltd, Peabody West Burton Pty Ltd, Errol Henry Comerford and Noel James Griffin Comerford, Judith Elizabeth Cook, Noel Michael Cook, Kelli Maree Durie, Casey Ann McFadzen, Trent Bryson William McFadzen, Brian James Moohin, Catherine Delma Moohin, Alexander Barnard Gibson Turner, David W Wright, Andrew Thomas Deguara and Sally Borg and Sunwater.
13 All parties to the application have reached agreement that native title exists and as to the nature and extent of those native title rights and interests in relation to the claimed area. That agreement, made under s 87(2) of the Act, was filed on 25 July 2019.
14 The evidence of connection filed in the Court by the applicant is as follows:
(1) Daniel Leo, (2015) Native Title Expert Report About The Widi People of the Nebo Estate, Birri Gubba Regional Society, Central Queensland.
(2) Affidavit of Kenneth Stewaurt Peters Dodd sworn 10 February 2009.
(3) Statement of Ronald Charles Dallachy signed 11October 2013.
(4) Statement of Linda Wailu signed 12 October 2013.
(5) Statement of Graham Sauney signed 12 October 2012.
(6) Statement of James Henry Butterworth signed 28 May 2013.
(7) Statement of Paul Royce Butterworth signed 28 May 2013.
(8) Statement of Eileen Beryl Pegler signed 30 May 2013.
(9) Statement of Noreen Martin signed 30 May 2013.
(10) Statement of Marilyn Duncan signed 1 June 2013.
(11) Statement of James Sauney signed 7 August 2013.
(12) Statement of Late Barbara Sauney signed 7 August 2013.
(13) Statement of Celeste Walsh signed 22 August 2013.
(14) Statement of Lorraine McLennan signed 21 August 2013.
(15) Statement of Charles Watson signed 27 August 2013.
(16) Statement of Christine Enid Skeen signed 2 May 2013.
15 Mr Leo, an anthropologist, describes the Widi People as part of a wider regional society of Aboriginal people known as the Birri Gubba People. There are three language-defined subregions of the Birri Gubba region, including the southern, Wiri sub-region. The Wiri People comprise a member of land-owning groupings. Amongst them is the Widi, a land-owning grouping for the Nebo District.
16 Mr Leo concludes:
It is my opinion that the information about the existence, distribution and nature of named Aboriginal groupings within the Birri Gubba Region provided by an array of sources over the first 50 years of European settlement (1861 to 1910) demonstrate that:
a. the entire Region was occupied by Aboriginal populations;
b. these populations were formed into distinct, named groupings;
c. these named groupings occupied and owned defined tracts of country, that is, they were localised, land-owning groupings associated with a touri - with an estate - and thus they were the Traditional Native Title Holding Group;
d. spatially, the land-owning groupings of the inland domain tended to be more or less evenly distributed along major watercourses, with their estates straddling waterways (hence occupying sections of a catchment and with many boundaries on watersheds);
e. spatially, the land-owning groupings of the coastal domain occupied sections of the coast and adjacent hinterland, with major waterways tending to be boundaries;
f. a land-owning grouping was named after a notable plant or animal associated with their estate, or after a prominent geographic characteristic of that territory, or after historical events associated with that country or people;
g. the -bura suffix (or alternate spellings thereof) is used to denote the names of such land-owning groupings;
h. the Bura Groupings of the Region were interrelated by commonalities of language and socio-cultural practices (such as intermarriage) and as such were part of a wider Regional System; and,
i. through conquest or extinction, one Bura Grouping replaced another as the occupiers and owners of an estate.
(Footnote omitted.)
17 Mr Leo concludes that the Toolgimburra and the Mungullaburra Bura Groupings occupied and owned estates in the claim area.
18 Mr Leo goes onto say:
It is my view that the historical and contemporary information … about the Pre-Sovereignty Society demonstrate that Widi Territory is located within an area that was part of a Regional System of localised, land-owning groupings. This Regional System - a Cultural Bloc - regulates intergroup activity and interaction. It is underpinned by certain commonalities, or more precisely, by consistent and harmonised Systems of Recruitment to Land-owning Groupings and of Land Tenure, which are the two sets of Laws & Customs relating to land and waters. There are also commonalities arising from a System of Religious Beliefs, which is, in part, a Law & Custom relating to land insofar as it is the basis for a spiritual connection to country.
19 The Widi People are described as the biological or adopted descendants of 15 named apical ancestors. Mr Leo describes ten current family lineages from those apical ancestors.
20 Mr Leo's report and the affidavits filed provide cogent evidence demonstrating that the Widi People have maintained a set of traditional laws and customs handed down from their ancestors. The material demonstrates that the Widi People continue to exercise and enjoy their native title rights and interests on a regular basis within the claim area. The Widi People acknowledge, not only a genealogical connection between themselves and their forebears, but also cultural connection based upon their laws and customs. The evidence supports the claim that that traditional laws acknowledged and the customs observed by the Widi People give them the right to possess, occupy and use and enjoy the land and waters in the claim area.