The largest native title claim in New South Wales history

The largest native title claim in New South Wales history was recognised by a federal court on Tuesday during a hearing held in Broken Hill.

With many of the original elders involved in the claim now passed away, it was a bittersweet day for the people of Barkandji in the far western region of NSW and the culmination of an 18-year struggle to have their claim inscribed into law.

The rights granted to the Barkandji people in the claim include: the right to camp, erect shelters, move about, hold meetings, hunt, fish, conduct burials and use the natural products of the land, according to traditional law and customs

The area covers 128,000 square kilometres of land, extending from the South Australian border, to Tilpa in the east, Wentworth in the south, north almost to Wanaaring, and within it lies the towns of Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Menindee.

More than 300 Barkandji people, some coming from as far as Western Australia, crowded into the Broken Hill Civic Centre where a federal court had been set up for the day. 

Justice Jayne Jagot said the case had dragged on for far too long and “when justice is delayed it is also denied”. After announcing the court’s recognition of the claim, the room broke out into cheers.

Barkandji woman Glynnis Church paid respects to the elders who had passed away, including her mother. “It’s very meaningful and powerful for me to stand here today and give recognition, not only to my mother but all my people that we’ve lost and that were on this journey with us.

“The process has been hard on all of us. But we have stuck together, and we’ve always known we are the right people for our country.”

Dancers in Broken Hill prior to the decision in the Barkandji land rights claim. Photograph: Darrin Manuel

The Barkandji claim was first lodged with the national native title tribunal in October 1997. Applicants were then required to provide strong evidence to the NSW crown solicitor’s office of connection to country, and included affidavits from traditional owners and reports by an anthropologist, historian and linguist.

After more than a decade of negotiations between the office and the Barkandji people regarding the evidence presented, the claim was finally accepted in 2013. 

Further negotiations followed with two local councils, the Murray Darling Basin authority, Aboriginal land councils, two mining companies and members of the NSW Farmers association regarding the conditions of a native title.

There are currently 372 native title applications across Australia registered with the tribunal. Although it has the highest number of Indigenous Australians of any state or territory in the country, the NSW crown solicitor’s office is among the most conservative in the country when accepting native title claims.

It is only third to Tasmania and ACT (which have had no successful claims) in having the lowest percentage of land that falls under native title, with less than 1%. Western Australia has the highest with 43% of land in the state recognised as having native title.

The Barkandji native title is only the sixth NSW claim to be recognised since the Native Title Act came into effect in 1993. 

The native title service, NTScorp, assisted the Barkandji people in their claim, and its chairman, Michael Bell, said there has been a prevailing attitude among state and federal governments that native title would never be achieved in NSW due to a misconception that too much cultural knowledge had been “washed away”.

“We assert that that hasn’t happened,” said Bell. “We have been there fighting on behalf of and with the communities to get those rights acknowledged.”

He added with the success of the Barkandji claim, and at least two more claim hearings for other regions in the state set for this year, these were possible signs that the state government’s attitude on native title had recently shifted.