‘Secretive land grab’: Fury over K’gari freehold ownership bid

An Aboriginal corporation has launched a bid for freehold ownership of most of the two main townships on K’gari, angering residents who say it’s a “secretive” land grab.

An Aboriginal corporation has launched a bid for freehold ownership of most of the two main townships on K’gari, angering some residents who views it as a “secretive” land grab.

The Butchulla people, who already hold native title over most of K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) as well as almost 30ha of freehold land, are vying to have large tracts of Eurong and Happy Valley transferred under the Aboriginal Land Act.

Upset locals say they were told at a “hasty” meeting last week with the Department of Resources, Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation and Fraser Coast Council that the transfer was “definitely happening”.

It follows fury over moves by an Aboriginal corporation to gain freehold ownership of what locals claim is 95 per cent of the town of Toobeah, near Goondiwindi.

The Butchulla people have applied for a total of about five sqkm in Eurong and Happy Valley under the Aboriginal Land Act, which allows state land to be transferred to First Nations corporations as “inalienable freehold”.

More than six million hectares of state land – which can’t be sold or mortgaged but is held in trust for the benefit of traditional owners – has so far been granted to Aborigines across Queensland.

Happy Valley, K’gari.

The Butchulla bid has angered locals including Fraser Island Association president David Anderson, whose pioneering father built the first house on the island and has a Eurong street named after him.

Mr Anderson said the Butchulla application came after it was discovered that the township reserves for Eurong and Happy Valley, which were settled in the 1960s, had never been gazetted by the state government in an apparent administrative blunder.

He said there were fears residents and tourists could be denied access to large areas of Eurong and Happy Valley after a BAC representative told a public meeting last year that existing Aboriginal freehold land was “private land” and the public would be “trespassing”.

“We believe that’s going to be the attitude for all of their land,” he said.

“They want land. They’ve got native title over the rest of the island and now they want even more freehold than they’ve already got. It’s just a gimme. I mean, how much do you want?”

Happy Valley Community Association secretary Scott Bell expressed a similar view.

“We’re a pretty unhappy little bunch of people,” he said.

“It (the land transfer process) has all been very, very secretive – we only just stumbled on it by accident.

A stretch of beach near Eurong.

“The public’s been told there’s nothing to fear but what they (Indigenous corporations) are doing now is going around every local authority area and making claims on every reserve and every piece of council land.

“They (the Butchulla) made a claim on our police reserve, our education reserve and the esplanade which effectively denies us access to the beach.

“What people don’t realise is that the block of land next door where you go to exercise or walk your dog, you may not be able to do that in the future.”

Mr Bell said his association had hired lawyers and was considering a legal challenge.

Mr Anderson said the freehold land already controlled by the Butchulla between Eurong and Happy Valley had been overrun with invasive weeds.

A Department of Resources spokesman said no decision had been made on the proposed K’gari land transfer and the meeting last week was to “provide information”.

“The department continues to work with the Butchulla people, the Fraser Coast Regional Council and the community on the proposed transfers,” he said.

“Land transferred under the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 is held as inalienable freehold, cannot be sold or mortgaged and is held in perpetuity for the native title holders of the land or for Aboriginal people particularly concerned with the land.”

The Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation has been contacted for comment.