People maintain a distinctive cultural, spiritual, physical and economic relationship with their land and waters

Target 15a captures legal Indigenous rights in land granted under the various land rights regimes of the states and territories and the Commonwealth as well as land subject to a determination that native title exists.

Target 15b separately captures native title rights and interests in the sea².

Target 15a

From the time of first European settlement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have fought to maintain, and have recognised, their traditional rights to ownership of land.

The modern land rights movement dates back to 1963 when the Yolgnu people from the settlement Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land presented the Australian Parliament with a bark petition, seeking the return of their land. Other important events include, the 1966-1975 Wave Hill Station walk off, a strike of 200 Gurindji stockman in protest against working conditions and the taking of traditional lands for pastoral properties. The Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971) decision, which generated greater public awareness of Indigenous dispossession of land, is another example.

In 1966, South Australia became the first state to transfer land back to Aboriginal controlled land trusts. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 was the first statutory land rights regime to be established in Australia. Today, similar regimes operate in every state and territory. In addition, the Native Title Act 1993, which commenced on 1 January 1994, establishes a national regime for the recognition and protection of native title rights and interests. Time series data on land under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander native title rights is provided in Table 15a1 and Table 15a2.

Land under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal rights or interests includes land subject to a determination that native title exists as well as land grants under various land rights regimes of the states and territories and the Commonwealth. Historical data on land under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal rights or interests was available for a few years only, and is shown in the 15a trajectory chart. Data show that Indigenous rights or interest have already been recognised over approximately half the Australian land mass.

Target 15b

In October 2001, the High Court’s landmark Croker Island decision confirmed that native title can exist at sea beyond the low water mark. This first determination over sea country recognised the claimants’ non-exclusive native title rights and interests to the sea area surrounding Croker Island in the Northern Territory. Since then, there have been a number of successful native title claims to sea country – including the largest-ever native title claim to the sea in the Torres Strait. The 2013 Akiba decision recognised for the first time the right of the native title holders to access and take marine resources for any purpose, including commercial purposes. There has been an increase in positive sea country native title determinations from under 10,000 sq kms in 2008 to over 90,000 sq kms in June 2020. Historical data on sea country under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal rights or interests is provided in Table 15b.1 and Table 15b.2.

More historical data on native title determinations over land and sea country is available from the National Native Title Tribunal.