AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-1999
NT: Land Council loses court bid to claim the Devil s Marbles
Aborigines in Central Australia have lost a Federal Court bid to claim ownership of the
Devil's Marbles Conservation Reserve.
The bid was part of a test case by the Northern Territory's major land councils to win
ownership of reserves including the Gregory, Keep River and Nathan River National Parks.
Aborigines already own Uluru and Kakadu National Parks, which are managed jointly with
government authorities.
But claims under the NT Land Rights Act on other nature reserves, including the Devil's
Marbles, have failed.
The Northern and Central Land Councils have taken the Northern Territory Government to the
Federal Court claiming it unlawfully stopped land claims from 1979 to 1997 by changing land
title of the reserves from Crown Land to ownership under land corporations.
But the Full Federal Court has rejected the councils' application for a review of the land
title to the 1,800-hectare Devil's Marbles reserve.
The CLC is yet to decide whether it will return to the High Court to continue its battle to
win ownership of them.
AAP cm/jms/kbw
KEYWORD: MARBLES (DARWIN)
1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
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