Gregory National Park / Victoria River Land Claim No.167 and Legune Area Land Claim No.188 Report

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner (Commissioner) following an inquiry into the Gregory National Park / Victoria River Land Claim (Application No. 167) and the Legune Area Land Claim (Application No. 188), both traditional Aboriginal land claim applications which were made by the Northern Land Council under section 50(1)(a) of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 on 27 May 1997.

The report was provided to the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Administrator of the Northern Territory on 30 June 2021.

The Commissioner recommends the grant to traditional Aboriginal owners of the land subject to claim for the Gregory National Park/Victoria River Land Claim. The area recommended for grant in the Legune Area Land Claim does not include some areas in the original claim that were previously determined to be either alienated Crown land or land seaward of the low water mark and therefore not available for claim. During the course of the inquiry an issue was raised in relation to the geographic extent of river beds and banks in the claim areas, with reference to the location of the ‘mouth of the river’. The report includes the Commissioner’s ruling that the relevant land is unalienated Crown land as defined in the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, and therefore available for claim.

Disclaimer: The different page numbering between the word and pdf versions of the report reflects formatting differences between the documents.