Representatives from the National Native Title Tribunal will meet in Bendigo today with the mayor Barry Ackerman, officers from 14 local councils and representatives from State Government departments to discuss the recently advertised native title application from the Dja Dja Wurrung People.
On 28 November, the Tribunal placed advertisements in the local media inviting people with interests in land covered by four related native title applications in central Victoria to register for talks aimed at reaching negotiated agreements. The Tribunal also sent more than 3,000 letters to people whom the State Government identified as possible interest-holders in the four claims, informing them about how to become a party to the claims.
The native title claimants, on behalf of the Dja Dja Wurrung Peoples, have asked for their rights to be recognised over an area taking in Woodend in the south-east, Kow Swamp in the north-east across to Lake Buloke in the north-west and Creswick in the south-west. Within this broader area north, south and west of Bendigo, there are three separate claims covering a number of mining application areas.
The four applications fall within 12 shire areas - Moorabool, Central Goldfields, Buloke, Hepburn, Campaspe, Loddon, Macedon Ranges, Northern Grampians, Mount Alexander and Pyrenees shire councils and Ballarat and Greater Bendigo city councils. Not all areas of land and water within the applications' external boundaries are claimed - for example, the application excludes private freehold land, which is not claimable.
Tribunal staff will explain the native title process and outline the boundaries of the claim area to the local government representatives and officers from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Parks Victoria and the water authorities at today's meeting. |