The NSW Aboriginal Land Council has welcomed a decision this week to uphold their appeal concerning a land claim.

The claim surrounded land associated with a private college in the Sutherland Shire, and with the successful appeal, will transfer to the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council (GLALC).

Land Council chairperson Raymond Kelly said they were pleased with the "unanimous ruling" in the NSW Court of Appeal.

"This is the Aboriginal Land Rights Act operating as it was intended by the Wran Government in 1983 and it's a great result for Gandangara LALC and the local Aboriginal community.''

NSWALC initially filed two claims in 2016 for the land in Jannali, which was occupied by the privately owned St George & Sutherland Community College.

In early 2016, to the claim, the education minister was given a briefing note recommending the sale and in October, he signed the note, accepting the recommendation the claimed land be declared "surplus to educational requirements" and it be sold to the St George & Sutherland Community College on the terms offered by them.

In 2021, the land claims were refused by the Minister on the basis the 'claimed land' was not "claimable Crown lands" under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.

A Judge from the Land and Environment Court found in favour of the Minister, finding the land was needed, or likely to be needed, for education, as evidenced by its sale to the College.

However, this week, the appeals court overruled the judgement.

Gandangara LALC chief executive Melissa Williams said they were pleased with the outcome.

She said they will start "consultation to work through the best interests of all members of the community".

Mr Kelly said NSWALC will "always try to settle these matters with the NSW Government by agreement, wherever possible".

However, he added, where negotiations were "unsuccessful," they would "continue to advocate for the rights of our people, arguing for a change in Government policy or using all the appropriate legal avenues available to us".

"Of the appeals that have been determined by the Courts over the past decade, NSWALC has been successful in more than 85 per cent of all judgments," he said.

"We will continue to support our 121 Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) as we strive to pursue economic independence and prosperity for our people."