ARNHEM LAND PART 3 - MINING AND LAND RIGHTS IN EAST ARNHEM LAND

This unit has focus on the differing views of land ownership that existed between indigenous people of East Arnhem Land and the non-indigenous people represented by the Government in distant Canberra. It deals with the process used through the 1963 Bark Petitions sent from Yirrkala in Eastern Arnhem Land to the Federal Government in Canberra. It indicates reasons why indigenous Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land objected to the proposed granting of land leases for an overseas country to establish a complex bauxite mining and alumina refinery of the Gove Peninsula. It follows the history of rejection of the Bark Petitions to the rejection of the Law Case seeking compensation after the rejection. It indicates the situation today which has been a compromise between the mining operators and local Aboriginal people which gained Land Titles to Arnhem Land in 1978. It also shows the inaccuracy of the "policy of 'terra nullius'" in denying Land Rights for
Aboriginal people. Black and white attachments are provided if hard copies are considered useful.