Wubalawun People Win Historic Case

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For the past 18 years, the Wubalawun people of the Northern Territory have being fighting to gain native title rights over land in the township of Larrimah. On Wednesday the 25th of October, their claims were finally acknowledged by the Federal Court of Australia and they received rights to one square kilometre of land in the Northern territory. Native title is the recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have rights to land according to their traditional law and customs as set out in the Australian Constitution. Native Title is governed by the Native Title Act which was established in 1993. The Wubalawun community have been living on an outstation outside the township of Larrimah, 500 kilometres south of Darwin. Jimmy Wavehill, who lives in Kalkarindji, assisted the Wubalawun community to lodge the official claim with the Federal Court seven years ago. After gaining rights to the land, Jimmy Wavehill stated "We help each other, we do our best, and we got our country back,”. Elders of the Wubalawun community are now hoping that the younger generation will be able to take control of the towns economy. Even though the land only measures one kilometre squared, there are hopes the town will grow in numbers and prosper. The Wubalawun people have been fighting for this land for 18 years and for them to gain rights to it is nothing short of an extraordinary achievement. As an Australian citizen, I can say I feel overjoyed to hear that the Australian government are granting aborigines more rights and hope they continue to do so in the future.

Picture found at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-24/wubalawun-traditional-owners-of-larrimah-1/10425470

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