On 18 November, the Federal Court recognised the native title rights and interests of the First Peoples claim group. The determination is reported as Turner v South Australia [2011] FCA 1312.
The claim group’s members belong to the six previous tribal groups who were identified in the ethnographic record relating to the river within the claim area: Nganguruku, Nagaiawang, Ngawait, Erawirung, Ngintait and Maraura; with another group occupying the south-eastern part of the claim area (the Mallee): the Ngarkat. In turn, they belong to a wider society taking in the Ngarrindjeri peoples to the south and the Maraura tribe which extends upstream into New South Wales as far the River Murray’s junction with the Darling River.
The native title claim was resolved by agreement with the State of South Australia, the Commonwealth and the other parties. The resolution was described by the Court as “complex”, and involved two main components. Firstly, there is the determination of non-exclusive native title rights and interests. Secondly, there is an agreement to enter into an Indigenous Land Use Agreement straight after the making of the determination by the Court. As described in the Court’s reasons, “[t]he context of the agreed resolution is, of course, the necessary balancing of rights and interests which the Native Title Act requires. The Determination, and the terms of the ILUA, together give effect to that balancing, which includes provision for compensation as well as the exercise of traditional rights by the First Peoples of the River Murray and the Mallee Region and for their role in the future in respect of the balance of the claim area.”