More than 34,000 square kilometres of Western Australia's Kimberley region will receive native title recognition by the Federal Court following three separate determinations this week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
It means about 93.5 per cent of the region, in the state's sparsely populated north, will now have native title recognition, the Kimberley Land Council says.
More than 100 people gathered at Moola Bulla Station, east of Halls Creek, for the determination of the Ngarrawanji native title claim on Tuesday.
The court has now travelled further into the East Kimberley to the community of Warmun where the determinations for the Malarngowem and Yurriyangem Taam claims will be delivered later on Thursday.
The ceremony will also include acknowledgement of the Goorring decision, which occurred in Perth late last year.
Justice Debra Mortimer said in her judgment for the Ngarrawanji people that only two of the 11 original members of the claim group were still alive to see its conclusion and the recognition should not have taken so long.
"They will be present in the minds of all those who listen to the making of the court's orders, and their contribution will be acknowledged and remembered, but the tragedy of their absence remains," she said.
Australian Associated Press
