Court Ruling on Crown Property Could Clear Path for 30,000 Aboriginal Land Claims

Findings around a technicality in the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act could expediate around 30,000 land rights applications.

An Aboriginal flag is seen through the crowd at the "Stop Black Deaths In Custody" march in Perth, Australia on Oct. 7, 2023. Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

The chair of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) says a decision to grant Aboriginal land rights over a disused club could pave the way for expediting around 30,000 land claims across the state.

The Paddington Bowling Club sits on Crown land and hasn’t been operational since 2015, but the venue’s leasee, Quarry Street Pty Ltd, has continued to pay $52,000 a year in rent.

Under NSW law, Crown land cannot be the subject of land claims if it is being lawfully utilised.

A legal case for an Aboriginal land claim therefore focused on whether land subject to a current Crown lease would be considered as being used, and how that would determine the outcome.

The court found the case invoked a “novel question” around the meaning and operation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW).

The property had been subject to a lease lasting from 2010 until 2060, stipulating that its purpose was for community, sporting and tourism activities—none of which had been conducted in the space of a decade.

Additionally, a 2014 proposal to place a childcare centre on the site was knocked back.

In 2016, a successful claim for the land was lodged by the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council, with Quarry Street Pty Ltd launching an appeal.

In 2024, the NSW Court of Appeal accepted that Quarry Street Pty Ltd was lawfully using the land and it could not therefore be claimed.

But the decision was later overturned under the premise that an unexpired lease did not equate to actual use of the land.

Indigenous advocates have heralded the finding as a win for Aboriginal land claims, asserting that the “lawful use” interpretation can be seen as defining actual physical use, rather than lease-holding on its own.

‘Not Just a Small Win’: Aboriginal Chair

NSWALC Chair Raymond Kelly believes the finding could free up around 30,000 other applications that have sat in a queue.

“[The outcome] validates the long-standing interpretation held by our organisation, by the government and the Parliament of New South Wales that a lease alone, without actual physical use of the land, does not constitute ‘lawful use’ under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW),” he said in a statement.

“Do not underestimate anything. This is not just a small win on a land rights claim. This is a win for common sense and justice for Aboriginal people. It holds the line in NSW and sends a message right across the country.”

Justice Jayne Jagot determined that the company holding the land had maintained the lease in order to decide what it could do with it.

The land will now be handed to the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council, with future plans so far unclear.