The dismissal by the Federal Court of the Wongatha and other native title claims on technical grounds is very disappointing, said GLSC Executive Director Brian Wyatt. 

“However, it is noted that the Judge was not prepared to make a finding that there was no native title over the area claimed. This leaves it open for further native title claims to be lodged over the area, perhaps on another basis.  

“It was very pleasing to have had the Federal Court reject applications by State and Commonwealth governments that no native title exists.  

“After five years in the court the decision is a big disappointment given the unambiguous prior ownership of the country by Aboriginal people and the strength of their evidence of unbroken connection to the lands. We reject the decision.  

“The idea, which comes from a reading of the judgment, that larger group claims are somehow lesser claims is very puzzling. The National Native Title Tribunal and State and Federal governments encouraged the amalgamation of smaller claims and Wongatha and other claimants had obliged.  

“It’s time to stop this confusion. It’s long overdue for governments in particular to get native title out of the courts and get serious with negotiated settlement of claims.  

“The people deserved full recognition of native title in the region and it was surprising that this was not granted. The decision will be closely examined and discussed with claimants before the next legal steps are decided. An appeal is one possibility.  

“Goldfields Aboriginal people feel that they clearly demonstrated unbroken connection from before European contact in 1869. The lands continue to have deep spiritual and cultural significance for the people,” Mr Wyatt said.  

Department of Indigenous Affairs records show 1053 special Aboriginal sites within the claim area.  

“The resources of those who opposed the claims appear to have won out for the time being.  

“Their arguments in court were often bankrupt of morality, sometimes centring on non-legal and spurious claims of economic consequences should native title be granted. In cross-examination these respondents frequently belittled claimant witnesses as if they were irrelevancies to Australian society.  

“We reject these arguments, which ignore the truth that these lands were stolen from the people. They know in their hearts that these are their traditional lands and will always be their lands,” Mr Wyatt said.  

In particular, the State Government of Western Australia has a lot to answer for, said Wongatha claimant and Goldfields Aboriginal leader Aubrey Lynch.  

“We do not accept the decision and the State stands condemned for having turned its back on us, both in the court and in the out-of-court search for an agreed settlement.  

“We genuinely pursued a negotiated settlement of the claim – as advocated by the Federal Court, only to be spurned by the State, which strung us along in the mediation process for over four years with no result.  

“The State proved insincere and untrustworthy. It always says it strongly favours out-of-court settlement of native title claims. But what it says and what it does are two different things,” Mr Lynch said.  

Mediation came to an abrupt end in late 2005 when the State withdrew from the process after frustrating it for years.  

“Whatever the court has decided, we still know that this is our land and we will continue to expect others to treat us as the traditional owners. Now we will have to go through it all over again,” said Mr Lynch.  

Mr Wyatt said the uncertainty of the decision is un-Australian. “A people dispossessed and downtrodden for more than two centuries has again been taken advantage of and again kicked while they are down,” he said.  

“The people have waited patiently for land justice since before Mabo and placed their trust in the European legal system. While they waited for an outcome to their claims they bent over backwards to assist government and industry with access to their land, including numerous agreements they entered into guaranteeing uninterrupted activities for miners and pastoralists, and providing fast-tracked claimant consent for mining and exploration tenements.  

“The decision is unjust and puzzling. We are left wondering when Aboriginal people will ever be regarded as equals in Australian society.  

"Goldfields Aboriginal people have proven time and again that their interests can live side by side with those of miners, exploration companies and pastoralists. It is unacceptable that the Federal Court has been unable to formally recognise this compatibility with a grant of native title rights under European law,” Mr Wyatt said.

Media Contact:       Brian Wyatt 0417 970413; Aubrey Lynch 0428 919124;

David Berry  0417 963089 ( Perth office 9263 8715)