Govt to challenge native title claim for Great Keppel Island

A fresh native title claim for exclusive ownership and use of one of Queensland’s most famous tropical islands is raising questions over the future of tourism there, as the government takes action to challenge it.

• Your native title questions answered

The state government will challenge a fresh native title claim for exclusive ownership and use of Great Keppel Island – including the former resort site and airstrip.

The claim submitted by the Woppaburra people – which remains in pre-notification stage – requests exclusive possession of nine lots and one partial lot covering a total 9.1 sq/km to the exclusion of all others, raising questions over the future of tourism on the island.

Woppaburra traditional owners were formally recognised in 2021 as the Native Title holders of 570 sq/km of land and sea off the coast of Yeppoon, the court granting exclusive use over parts of Great Keppel Island.

However this did not include the island resort – which was operated by Contiki and was a popular local party spot – due to an existing private lease held by Tower Holdings.

Once an iconic tourism attraction, the resort was demolished in 2018 after being abandoned a decade earlier, with the state government last year cancelling the Tower Holdings lease due to the operator owing nearly $900,000 in unpaid rent.

Great Keppel Island resort owner Tower Holdings had its lease cancelled by the state government after racking up overdue rent.

In the absence of the lease, the Woppaburra people are entitled to submit a second native title claim that includes the previously extinguished resort area.

It’s understood the area may be classified as a strategic land management reserve under the Department of Resources, rather than vacant land.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the government would challenge the claim.

“Parts of Great Keppel Island have already been ruled to have native title extinguished in a previous ruling,” he said.

“This will form part of the government’s response moving forward.

“As a respondent to the claim the government will be asked to provide its views and will challenge the claim regarding the extinguished areas.

“Until the claim is registered it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

A $30m concept master plan to redevelop the island released just one month earlier in collaboration with community and stakeholders, including the Woppaburra people, island business operators and the Livingstone Shire Council has also been thrown into question.

Capricorn Enterprise chief executive Mary Carroll said she remained unsure as to what affect the application may have on the development plans or the overall future of the tourism industry for Keppel Island and the wider Capricorn Coast, Southern Great Barrier Reef destination.

Putney beach, Great Keppel Island. Picture: Liam Kidston

“We all spent nearly two years with open and honest communication, gaining trust and understanding, to produce a shared vision and master plan for a genuine way forward to realise a new era of sustainable tourism and investment on this magnificent island,” she said.

“One quarter of the economy on the Capricorn Coast is because of Great Keppel Island, increasing to fifty per cent, with the realisation of resort accommodation.”

Premier Steven Miles on Sunday said the state had a $30m masterplan to transform Great Keppel Island (Wop-pa) and insisted responding to a Native Title claim was not unusual.

He argued the island should remain open to all.

“This is a very common process where the state responds on behalf of Queenslanders as a landholder and we seek to make sure that the aspirations of First Nations people can be realised while also ensuring that Queenslanders continue to have access to the places they love,” he said.

“It’s not unusual for Native Title claimants to seek exclusive use and for the state to instead seek non-exclusive use so that other Queenslanders can continue the kinds of activities that they are used to undertaking on those lands.”

The Woppaburra groups have been contacted for comment.