The Tjalkadjara community celebrated gaining native title over a swathe of the Northern Goldfields on Monday, after almost eight years of fighting for their rights to the land.
They now have much greater control over a region of 6,726sqkm, which is slightly larger than the Boorloo / Perth metropolitan area.
More than 20 Tjalkadjara people attended the Federal Court in Boorloo / Perth for this consent determination hearing, which was shifted from a location near Laverton, in the Goldfields, due to weather and security concerns.
The Tjalkadjara people were delighted by the result, which gives them a chance to safeguard their country from environmental damage, said Verna Vos, one of the main claimants.
"Our spiritual connection to this Country has been forever, through the generations, but we haven't necessarily been able to protect country," Ms Vos told National Indigenous Times.
"(Previously) we didn't particularly have any power or a say to guide how to protect country. Now, we are the people proponents will come to. Anyone wanting to utilise the country now know who are the rightful land owning people for that area."
This would be especially valuable for negotiating with mining companies and minimising their impact on country, said fellow Tjalkadjara native title claimant, Elton Polak.
"We need to set up (with mining companies) how we can protect our land and get some of our land back that's not damaged at the moment," he told National Indigenous Times.
"It's very emotional for me. I'm really happy. I'm 100 per cent positive the younger generations (of Tjalkadjara people) will carry on what we're doing and protect all our significant sites."
The native title decision was the result of years of negotiations with the WA Government, said Grace Denness, community relations officer for Native Title Services Goldfields. The process had been complicated by overlapping native title claims - the Waturta Claim and the Tjalkadjara Claim - which were eventually resolved via mediation.
"There's no such thing as a fast outcome in Native Title (claims)," Ms Denness explained.
"There's generally competing interests, with pre-existing landholders in the region, and the Goldfields in particular has a quite complex legacy of native title. There's been well over 130 native title claims in the Goldfields region."
The Tjalkadjara native title rights take effect immediately, she said. Their first key task, she said, was to organise a Private Body Corporate to manage these new native title rights. It will be called the Tjalkadjara Aboriginal Corporation.
"Tjalkadjara native title holders can now start work on realising their aspirations for country and for their community," Ms Denness said.
"They will have to get familiar with the running of a corporation, and get that operational, which is quite a lot of work for people who are not renumerated for it. So (this native title win) is certainly not the end of their work, it's just the beginning of a new phase."
Ms Denness said it was disappointing Monday's hearing had not occurred on country, as this meant many members of the Tjalkadjara claim had been unable to attend. But the NTSG was now planning to hold an official celebration of the native title result in the Northern Goldfields later this year.
