KLC Re-recognised as Native Title Representative Body for the Kimberley

KLC Re-recognised as Native Title Representative Body for the Kimberley

July 31, 2023

The Kimberley Land Council (KLC) is pleased to announce that the organisation has been re-recognised as the native title representative body (NTRB) for the Kimberley region of Western Australia from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2026.

The KLC has been the NTRB for the Kimberley region since 1998 and during that time has represented native title claimants in achieving native title determinations over more than over 97% of the region.

The KLC looks forward to continuing to assist and represent Kimberley Aboriginal people in relation to native title matters. We thank KLC members and the Kimberley community for their continued support.

To reflect on the journey so far, we would like to share a quote from one founders of the KLC, John Watson, from 1986.

“We watch TV, see the news, and have got no say. People all over the world are being forced to take what is given to them, we as Aborigines most of all, because so many people still refuse to recognise that this is our land, our heart, our country.

We don’t want to take whitefeller’s back yards or farms. We just want enough land to live in dignity, where our children can grow up with self-respect. We have been undermined and put in corners too long

We have support from all over the world and cannot step away from the struggle. It is the Land Councils that carry our message out onto the streets of the world and tell of our situation.

I have identity, I have feelings for our people. Land rights have been thrown out, but we still demand that self management and self-determination be initiated in times to come.

Only the Land Councils, and only with the support of all Aboriginal people, will continue the struggle. I know it will not be easy, but neither will it end.”

John Watson, Chairman’s Message - 1986