Ngurrara
Claim Status:
Active, Consent determination Hearing of Ngurrara B expected when court resumes in 2012.
Claim History:
The initial Ngurrara claim was given Native Title consent determination on November 9, 2007, 11 years after being lodged with the Native Title Tribunal. It covers 77,814 square kilometers in the Great Sandy Desert and southern Kimberley region and includes people from the Walmajarri. Wangkajunga, Mangala and Juwaliny language groups.
Ngurrara B
A second claim known as Ngurrara B was filed in December 2008, and amended in May 2009. This claim included sections of land that were excluded from the initial claim.
Ngurrara #2 – Proposed
A third claim known as Ngurrara #2 is proposed and undergoing anthropological work to move it forward. It would cover country to the north and north east of the existing Ngurrara claims, to the borders of the Kurungal claim and the Tjurabalan Native Title determination area.
Ngurrara Indigenous Protected Area
Immediately after Ngurrara Traditional Owners were awarded their Native Title rights (from the first claim), they declared a 16,430 square kilometre Indigenous Protected Area or “Aboriginal National Park’’, in the north-east section of the claim.
Indigenous Protected Areas assist Traditional Owners to look after country while generating employment opportunities and managing climate change.
Looking after country
An Indigenous Protected Area is one of the primary reasons that Traditional Owners fight so hard to get Native Title determined.
IPAs are managed by Traditional Owners and are protected areas that focus on land conservation and recreation. It is an area of land where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant beauty, ecological and/or cultural value, and high biological diversity. Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of the IPA.
They allow the opportunity to train and employ young people as rangers, so they can look after country and keep a strong connection to the land, law and culture.
Warlu Jilajaa Jumu IPA
The Warlu Jilajaa Jumu Indigenous Protected Area’s name comes from the Walmajarri words Warlu (the fire used to keep country healthy), Jila (living water – permanent waterholes), and Jumu (seasonal soaks). These water places are of great cultural significance and have been for thousands of years.
The country includes long sand dunes, rocky outcrops, spinifex, and low-lying shrub land with some areas of eucalypts, grevilleas and hakeas. There is a lot of different wildlife in the IPA, including the vulnerable mulgara and bilby, and the endangered night parrot.
The Ngurrara people
The Ngurrara claim group comprises people from the Walmajarri, Wangkajunga, Mangala, and Juwaliny language groups. Many of the people from these language groups presently live in Fitzroy Crossing and surrounds, with a number still living in communities within the claim area.
