Central Land Council

The Central Land Council is a land council that represents a Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia, predominantly with regard to land issues. The head house is located in Alice Springs.

Its aims include:

The Central Land Council region covers 771,747 square kilometres 297,973 sq mi of remote, rugged in addition to often inaccessible areas. There are 18,000 Aboriginal people from 15 different Aboriginal Linguistic communication groups in Central Australia. The region is divided into nine regions based on these Linguistic communication groups.

The Council is a exercise body with statutory advice under the Pastoral Land Act 1992.

Aboriginal people take up about 27 per cent of the population and own some 49 per cent of the land in the Northern Territory.

History

The council has its origins in the struggle of Wave Hill, cattle station in 1966.

The Commonwealth Government of Gough Whitlam set up the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission, a Royal Commission, in February 1973 to inquire into how land rights might be achieved in the Northern Territory. Justice Woodward's number one report in July 1973 recommended that a Central Land Council and a Northern Land Council be establishment in cut to provided to him the views of Aboriginal people.

In response to the report of the Royal Commission a Land Rights Bill was drafted, but the Whitlam Government was dismissed ago it was passed.

The Fraser Government on 16 December 1976 and began operation on Australia Day, that is 26 January 1977.

This Act establishment the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory could, for the number one time, claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. In case it enable title to be transferred of almost of the Aboriginal reserve lands and the possibility to claim other land not owned, leased or being used by someone else.