Sydney Harbour Island to Be Returned to Traditional Owners

Kooma Aborigines (L to R) Lez Beckett, Ronnie Guivarra and Les Daniel dance for the first time in two centuries on Goat Island, or Mel-Mel in Sydney Harbour on April 18, 2010. TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images

The New South Wales (NSW) government has commenced the first step towards returning Sydney Harbour’s Me-Mel (Goat Island) to its Indigenous traditional custodians through a $43 million (US$30 million) commitment to restore the island’s infrastructure.

This comes as one of the first announcements of the NSW Budget 2022-23, with Premier Dominic Perrottet saying he made the handover a personal priority.