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Aboriginal Law Bulletin (ALB)
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Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "Recent Happenings" [1996] AboriginalLawB 13; (1996) 3(79) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 13


Recent Happenings

18 December 1995

the Australian Indigenous Workers' Superannuation Fund launched in Sydney by the Indigenous Workers' Union of Australia. The Fund is to be administered by MLC.

21 December 1995

Commissioner Iris Stevens handed down her findings in the Hindmarsh Island (Kumarangk) Bridge Royal Commission. She found that claims as to the existence of women's business concerning the land and waters around Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island (Kumarangk) in South Australia had been fabricated by some Ngarrindjeri women, in order to halt construction of a bridge between the two sites. The Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Robert Tickner, had banned construction of the bridge for 25 years pursuant to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth) (see casenote on page 24).

21 December 1995

the community of Palm Island in Queensland was handed back the Aitkenvale Hostel in the suburb of Aitkenvale, Townsville. It is believed to be the first time in an Australian city that land has been returned to Indigenous owners

21 December 1995

the Jervis Bay National Park, on the New South Wales central coast, was handed back to its traditional owners of the Wreck Bay community under inalienable freehold title. The Park will be leased by the Australian Nature Conservation Agency. The Agency and Wreck Bay community will be jointly responsible for management: of the Park. Currently the Park draws more than 750,000 visitors per year, more than Uluru and Kakadu National Parks in the Northern Territory combined.

1 January 1996

a 23 year old Aboriginal man incarcerated at the Townsville Correctional Centre, Queensland, was found hanged in his. cell.

7 January 1996

a 47-year old Aboriginal man in the Junee Correctional Centre, New South Wales, collapsed around 7.10 am and was pronounced dead at 9am.

9 January 1996

Cecil Fisher becomes the first Aborigine to lodge a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of Queensland, against the Queensland Government in relation to wages allegedly stolen by fraud from compulsory government savings schemes. Thousands of Indigenous workers all over Australia are; believed to, have been robbed of their money from State government-run compulsory savings schemes.

12 January 1996

a 20 year old Aboriginal man in the psychiatric ward of the John Oxley Memorial Hospital at Wacol, Queensland was found hanged by his shirt. The man had been arrested; at Eight Mile Plains on 16 December 1995,' and had been transferred to the hospital after a psychiatric examination.

16 January 1996

Justice Jane Matthews, President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, was appointed by the Federal Government to prepare a report into the heritage protection application lodged by members of the Ngarrindjeri community at the heart of the Hindmarsh Island (Kumarangk) Badge issue: Submissions on the issue were being received until 29 February 1996.

29 January 1996

Justice Drummond of the Federal Court found against the Wik people in a native title-land claim. He said the Queensland Parliament had the power to grant pastoral leases over: Crown land despite contrary United Kingdom and Queensland legislation from last century, and that any native title rights held by the Wik regarding petroleum and minerals had been extinguished by the, Petroleum Act 1915 (Qld), the Mining on Private Land Act 1909 (Qld) and the Mining Acts Amendment Act of 1925 (Qld). A High Court challenge is expected (see casenote on page 28).

31 January 1996

the Gimbat area including Coronation Hill (Guratba) in southern Kakadu a National Park, Northern Territory, was handed back, to its traditional Jawoyn owners. The land will be leased by the Australian Nature Conservation Agency as part of the Park for 82 years.

5 February 1996

a Regional Heads of Agreement signed between the Cape York Land Council, the Cattlemen's Union, the Peninsula Regional Council of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the Australian Conservation Foundation and The Wilderness Society. A major component of the agreement concerns an undertaking by the, Cattlemen's. Union to allow Aborigines access to traditional lands, in exchange for an undertaking no further native title claims will be lodged by the Land Council' in Cape York, Queensland.' Mr Noel Pearson, Executive Director of the Council, said that the agreement would make the Federal Court's ruling on 29 January in respect of pastoral leases within the Wik native title claim 'redundant', and commented 'We've got a commitment from the Cattlemen's Union that achieves what we sought to achieve through the legal processes'.

8 February 1996

the High Court ordered the National Native Title Tribunal to accept a native title claim by the Waanyi people (see casenote in Vol 3, 77 Aboriginal Law Bulletin 17). The appeal was decided on a point of NNTT procedure, not the substantive issue of the legal effect of pastoral leases on native title. At the time of publication, the High Court had still to release the reasons for its decision.

12 February 1996

the High Court commenced hearings in the Kruger litigation (see page 11).


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