Walton, Alastair --- "NSW Land Claims" [1985] AboriginalLawB 56; (1985) 1(15) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 11

• Nsw Land Claims
• Present Position On Claims, As At 31 July 1985

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NSW Land Claims

by Alastair Walton

The New South Wales Aboriginal Land Claims Unit functions as a clearing house for Aboriginal demands for land under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act.

The Claims Unit is a focal point in the administrative process for land rights in NSW. According to the Land Rights Act a Local Aboriginal Land Council (there are 110 such councils) or the NSW Land Council can make a claim for Crown land (fitting into particular criteria of s.36 of the Act). This claim is manifested by various documents which are presented to the Registrar of the NSW Land Rights Act, Ms Pat O'Shane. The Registrar then gives a copy of the claim to the Crown Lands Minister, Ms Crosio.

It is in the Crown Lands Department that a claim is verified as claimable or not. In addition under s.36(1) of the Act the Minister for Lands must decide, after briefing from her department, if the claimed land may be needed for 'an essential public purpose'. This last term is open to interpretation.

The Crown Lands Departments activity in relation to Aboriginal claims is co-ordinated from the NSW Aboriginal Claims Unit, housed in the old sandstone Lands Department building in Bridge Street, Sydney near the Quay.

The Crown Lands Department is a section of government operating in a decentralised mode. It has thirteen regional centres networking the Central and Eastern Divisionsof NSW. The administration of the Western Division is the responsibility of the Western Lands Commission with its central office in Macquarie Street, Sydney.

Initial recommendations or reports upon the status of Aboriginal claims originate from the satellite offices and are forwarded to the Claims Unit in Sydney who then advise the Minister.

The Claims Unit was initially receiving 300 claims a month in its first months of operation in early 1985. That figure has shortened to 100 a month. The table below is the most recent summary of claims and their outcome.

The Claims Unit has a staff of eight including a legal officer, Kelvin O'Keefe, and the Officer-in-Charge is Colin Clague who commenced work for the Unit in early November, 1984. For the previous six years, Colin Clague was Assistant Manager of the Nungera Co-operative Society Ltd in Maclean, northern NSW. Previous to that he worked for ten years administering Community Welfare Services while based at Alice Springs.

Present Position on Claims, as at 31 July 1985

Total Received:

2336

Number being recorded within Aboriginal Land Claims Unit:

124

Number Granted:

128

Approx. Area Granted :

423 ha.

Number not granted on basis that land claimed not claimable (i.e. freehold leasehold etc.):

418

Number not granted, land notclaimable, (lawfully used and occupied):

16

Number not granted where Minister not satisfied land claimed is claimable Crown land (36(5)(b)):

2

Number not granted essential public purpose (36(8)):

1

Number of claims over Travelling Stock Reserves for investigation under Section 37(3):

128

Number Withdrawn:

60

Number Invalid as claims are not within Aboriginal Land Council Boundaries:

110

Number under investigation (CLO and WRC):

1163

Number under investigation (WLC):

186