Land interests
A transfer or grant of land under the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (ALA) and the Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991 (TSILA) is not a native title claim, does not extinguish any existing native title, and does not affect the right of anybody to make a native title claim.
Transferable land
In Queensland, under the ALA and the TSILA certain lands can be transferred to Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islanders. The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is primarily responsible for these transfers.
Land is transferred when its ownership is transferred from one trustee (usually a government department or community council) to a group of Aboriginal people or a group of Torres Strait Islander people as trustees to hold the land for the benefit of Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islander people.
Departmental officers first consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on behalf of the minister, and then recommend to the minister the transfer of land to a specified group of grantees.
Lands that can be transferred are:
- certain Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander reserve land
- land in a deed of grant in trust (DOGIT) for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people (all the large Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland are on DOGIT land)
- Aurukun Shire lease land
- Mornington Island Shire lease land
- land declared by a Regulation to be transferable land (as specified in the Act)
- certain National Parks in the Cape York Peninsula region.
Before land is transferred, officers from the department meet and talk with the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who are particularly concerned with the land in question. This ensures that the minister approves the land transfer to their appropriate representatives, making them grantees of the land and trustees for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people and their ancestors and descendants.
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who are particularly concerned with the land:
- are connected to the land by Aboriginal tradition or Islander custom
- live on or use the land
- live on or use neighbouring land.
In appointing grantees, the minister must be consistent with any Aboriginal tradition or Torres Strait Islander custom applicable to the land.
Grantees
When Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people obtain ownership of land under the Aboriginal Land Act or Torres Strait Islander Land Act, they become grantees for the land.
Land trusts
The grantees can be a group of individuals, a corporate body or a combination of both. When the land is granted, a land trust under the Aboriginal Land Act or Torres Strait Islander Land Act automatically arises. This is a corporate body with a chairperson and a corporate seal, with the grantees as members. This body becomes the owner of the land.
Once the title to the land is handed to the grantees, the land becomes their responsibility as trustees. They must deal with it for the benefit of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people and their ancestors and descendants.
The grantees are the owners of the land, and have the same responsibilities as other freehold owners in Queensland. However, they do not have to pay local government rates on the land unless it is outside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander local government areas, and is being used for 'commercial or residential' purposes.
The land trust should ensure that:
- it keeps proper records of its activities and decisions
- it keeps proper financial accounts
- all dealings with the land are for the benefit of the beneficiaries as a group
- it consults Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people particularly concerned with the land, and informs them of any proposed grant of an interest in the land (e.g. the granting of a lease).
Contact this department for information on how to manage the responsibilities of being a trustee.
To date, 64 land trusts have been established.
Land trusts map (PDF, 507K)*
Freehold title
Through the land trust, the grantees own the freehold, which means they can exclude others from the land and they can lease it. However, two restrictions on the land, which are not on other freehold land in Queensland are that:
- it can never be sold
- the Minister must approve any lease of the land to a non-Aboriginal or non-Torres Strait Islander person for a period longer that 10 years (this restriction does not apply if the land is leased to a non-Indigenous person who is the spouse of an Indigenous person).
Further, as with all freehold land in Queensland, the State reserves the rights to all minerals and petroleum on or below the land. This means that the government owns the rights to sell the minerals or petroleum, and has the right of entry to mine those resources.
More information
For more information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land interests contact the nearest Department of Environment and Resource Management office, or write to:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Acts Branch
Department of Environment and Resource Management
Locked Bag 40
Coorparoo DC
Queensland 4151, Australia
If you have problems downloading any of these documents, or would like a copy mailed to you, please contact:
Indigenous Services
Locked Bag 40, Coorparoo DC Qld 4151
(07) 3896 3354
* Requires Acrobat Reader
Last updated: 16 June 2009