Qld: Emotional scenes at Cape York land deal announcement

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2007
Qld: Emotional scenes at Cape York land deal announcement

(EDS: Story also corrects earlier spelling of Yalanji people)



By Jessica Marszalek

WUJAL WUJAL, Qld, April 11 AAP - Cape York Aborigines describe the handing over of
230,000ha of far north Queensland land as a "new dawn of pride".

In an emotional ceremony today at Wujal Wujal, north of Cairns, Queensland Premier
Peter Beattie announced the agreement - the culmination of seven years of negotiations
involving hundreds of people.

Under the agreement, 64,000ha of land between Mossman and Cooktown will be made Aboriginal
freehold land, which the traditional owners, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people, will protect
under conservation agreements.

A portion of the land will be open to any use by the Yalanji people and will be able
to be built upon, grazed or mined.

Traditional owner and Wujal Wujal Aboriginal council mayor Desmond Tayley told the
300 people gathered for the ceremony the agreement ushered in a "new dawn of pride and
sense of achievement".

Under the terms of the agreement, national park area on Cape York will nearly double
to 162,000ha, which includes the Daintree, Cape Tribulation, Black Mountain and Cedar
Bay national parks.

Mr Beattie called the agreement, which was generated by a 1994 native title claim,
a "significant milestone in Queensland's history".

"The Yalanji have long been the protectors of one of the most precious and beautiful
regions of Queensland," he said.

"The restoration of the traditional owners' right to own and be the custodians and
managers of their traditional country will protect the significant cultural and environmental
aspects of the area."

A number of Aboriginal elders broke down in tears as they recalled community members
who had died over the period of the negotiations and divisions within families over elements
of the agreement.

The agreement will now go to the National Native Title Tribunal before receiving final
Federal Court approval in about three years.

Mr Tayley called on the state government to continue to provide help for the community
to enable them to use the land during the state's resource boom.

"We need to make sure the new land entitlements are not constraints ... let us use
the land to join the rest of the country in this march to prosperity," Mr Tayley said.

Mr Beattie said he hoped the community would look at ecotourism to provide jobs.

Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) spokeswoman Karen Robinson said the agreement
not only benefited indigenous people but was a "real gain for the conservation of significant
environmental values within and adjacent to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area".

The Yalanji people will work cooperatively with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
officers in the day-to-day management of the parks.

AAP pjo/it/de

KEYWORD: WUJAL NIGHTLEAD

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