In this matter, Barker J made orders by consent recognising the native title rights and interests of the Lappi Lappi and Ngulupi claim group in relation to an area of approximately 6,072 square kilometres of land and waters in the western portion of the Tanami Desert in the Central Desert region of Western Australia. The area comprises part of Reserve 26399 and part of Reserve 24923 which are reserved for the purpose of use and benefit of Aboriginal people and vested in the Aboriginal Lands Trust of Western Australia. The State of Western Australia was the only respondent. The application was filed on 15 February 2018.
Barker J noted that the Lappi Lappi and Ngulupi claimants belong to the Western Desert Cultural Bloc (WDCB) system of laws and customs. The individuals and groups who are governed by the laws and customs of the WDCB are associated with various areas of country through a multiplicity of mechanisms or pathways. As a result, landholding groups in the determination area are not patrilineally-patrilocally structured but were (and continue to be) emergent. Traditionally, these groups were landholders through their shared association with, and to, the land and the groups were open and inclusive so that people had potential access to a number of areas through a variety of pathways in a manner that befitted their nomadic lifestyle.
His Honour accepted that the claimants each have a connection to those who occupied the area at or around the acquisition of sovereignty who themselves acquired their connection to land through those multiple pathways. Barker J noted that the connection material confirms that occupation of the determination area, and adjacent country, continued up until the late 1950’s, with a number of living Lappi Lappi and Ngulupi claimants having been born and/or growing up within the area.
Barker J was satisfied that it is appropriate and within power to make the determination of native title in the terms proposed pursuant to s 87 and s 94A of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). His Honour congratulated the Lappi Lappi and Ngulupi claimants, their legal representatives and the State for negotiating and agreeing to the determination: ‘This Determination of native title is unique in the sense that it will be determined in the same year it was filed, and perhaps offers optimism for the early finalisation of future consent determinations in Western Australia in the coming years’ at [30].
The applicant nominated Rapi (Aboriginal Corporation) (ICN: 8888) to hold the determined native title in trust for the native title holders.