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Indigenous land use agreements deliver benefits in Byron Bay
| 08/02/2007 |
Employment, training and economic development opportunities are some of the benefits the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay can expect to enjoy from two indigenous land use agreements that settle native title.
Today at Cape Byron in northern New South Wales representatives of the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the NSW Government including Premier Morris Iemma, are gathering at a ceremony to acknowledge the agreements reached over 245 hectares of Crown land in and around Byron Bay. This area is currently covered by two native title claims by the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay.
Under the agreements approximately 124 ha of Crown land will be transferred to the National Parks and Wildlife Service to be protected and co-managed by the Department of Conservation and committees that include members of the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay.
Jobs will be created for the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay in those new national park areas and funding has been set aside for an ongoing Aboriginal training program. Certain parcels of Crown land will be transferred in freehold to the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay, including the Broken Head caravan park, which will provide opportunities for employment and economic development.
National Native Title Tribunal Member, Dr Gaye Sculthorpe, who mediated between the parties to help them reach the agreements, said the parties had achieved practical benefits through sitting down together to negotiate over the native title claims.
‘The parties have worked together to develop creative, flexible ways to manage and protect areas of cultural significance to the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay,’
‘These arrangements recognise and respect the Bundjalung People of Byron Bay's cultural knowledge and expertise which will be reflected in the co-management arrangements. This outcome builds on a previous indigenous land use agreement reached in 2001, under which the Arakwal National Park was created.’
Dr Sculthorpe said the agreements would be lodged with the Tribunal for registration and, if registered, would soon deliver practical benefits and certainty to the parties. |
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