Northern Land Council
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Northern Land Council

The Northern Land Council (NLC) is a land council representing the Aboriginal peoples of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia, with its head office in Darwin.

While the NLC was established in 1974, its origins began in the struggle of Australian Aboriginal people for rights to fair wages and land, including the strike and walk off by the Gurindji people at Wave Hill cattle station in 1966, as well as other activities relating to Indigenous land rights.

The Commonwealth Government of Gough Whitlam set up the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission, a Royal Commission, in February 1973 to inquire into how land rights might be achieved in the Northern Territory. Justice Woodward's first report in July 1973 recommended that a Northern Land Council and a Central Land Council be established in order to present to him the views of Aboriginal people.

In response to the report of the Royal Commission a Land Rights Bill was drafted, but the Whitlam government was dismissed before it was passed. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 was eventually passed by the Fraser Government on 16 December 1976 and began operation on Australia Day, that is 26 January 1977.[citation needed]

This Act established the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory could, for the first time, claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. In effect it allowed title to be transferred of most of the Aboriginal reserve lands and the opportunity to claim other land not owned, leased or being used by someone else.[citation needed]

The Northern Land Council was established in 1974.

Kathy Mills was the first woman to be elected to the Northern Land Council.

The most important responsibility of the councils is to consult traditional owners and other Aboriginal people who have an interest in Aboriginal land about land use, land management and access by external tourism, mining and other businesses. This sometimes involves facilitating group negotiation and consensus-building among scores of traditional Aboriginal landowner groups, and many other affected Aboriginal people.[citation needed]

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