Ngadjuri people celebrate ‘brighter future’ with native title win

The Ngadjuri people have been recognised as the native title holders in South Australia’s mid north. 

The Federal Court delivered its consent determination at the Burra Town Hall on Thursday afternoon, granting the Ngadjuri people more than 15,000 square kilometres encompassing Burra, Clare and Orroroo.

The Native Title Determination application was first lodged with the Federal Court in November 2011.

Ngadjuri elder Aunty Pat Waria-Read said her people were finally being recognised as being the traditional owners of that land.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to finally be acknowledged,” Ms Waria-Read said.

“This is a pathway that we can make changes to the mid north, that we can have a brighter future for not only us Ngadjuri people, but also for those non-Indigenous people that live in this country.

“We don’t want to be people that think it’s all ours … today is about a future for all of us.

“This is a day of victory, for all of us Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people, for all of us to work together through future challenges, for our future generations.

“It’s a brighter future for our younger generations to know their kinships, relationships and their spiritual connection to the land.”

Long journey

Ngadjuri elder Roslyn Weetra said her family members were among the first people to make the claim back in 2011.

 “A lot of the people involved with that [first claim] have now passed,” Ms Weetra said.

“Some of them were my siblings, my aunty and my uncle, and it’s an emotional time to be here.”

“It’s important that we mention those people.

“It’s not just about the support now, it’s about Aboriginal people and their drive to get back on country, their determination to get back on country, their resilience to keep our culture together.

“Our history is not a very good history as far as Australia goes and colonisation affected our whole lifestyle, the very essence of our spiritual and sacred sites.

“Some were disturbed, and some were even destroyed.”

She said while the successful claim was cause for celebration, it was important to remember history.

“For the last 200 years we’ve fought for our traditional systems, kinship and to be on Ngadjuri country but we also had to contend with the impact of introduced diseases such as smallpox,” she said.

“Our lore was totally ignored, and the European law became law of the land.

“Let’s enjoy today, but let’s not forget about the past.”