Larrakia elders vow to keep fighting the Northern Land Council in court in long-running Kenbi land claim

LARRAKIA elders who lost a High Court battle over more than 50,000 hectares of land in the Top End have vowed to continue fighting, saying ‘this is my home, I’ve got nowhere to go’.

Larrakia elder Eric Fejo says the Northern Land Council failed in its duty to represent the interests of Aboriginal people. Picture: NT News

• Larrakia Elders left out of Kenbi land claim lose court battle against Northern Land Council
• Kenbi Land Claim settled after 37 years

LARRAKIA elders who lost a High Court battle over more than 50,000 hectares of land in the Top End have vowed to continue fighting, saying “this is my home, I’ve got nowhere to go”.

Eric Fejo and Tibby Quall took the Northern Land Council (NLC) to court arguing an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA), which they were not recognised as traditional owners on, is invalid.

The long-running Kenbi claim, which was originally filed in 1979, was signed off in 2016 when about 52,000 hectares of the Cox Peninsula was transferred to the family of Larrakia traditional owner Raylene Singh.

After Mr Quall and Mr Fejo won a Federal Court appeal which found the chief executive of the NLC did not have the appropriate power to certify the ILUA, the NLC appealed to the High Court, which on Wednesday unanimously found the chief executive in fact did have the power to sign-off on the claim.

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Tibby Quall was one of the Larrakia elders involved in the legal battle.

Mr Fejo said the NLC had failed in its job of representing the desires of Aboriginal people.

“They are not a representative body in layman’s terms,” he said.

“They routinely ignore the wishes of traditional owners and play favourites creating divisions between Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are just expected to put up with being treated like this by their so-called representative body which is unfair and patronising.”

Mr Quall said the decision made him feel like “there’s no real justice in the system”.

“It’s just land council strategies to create division and disassemble the real Larrakia people.”

However, both men said they would continue to fight to have their families recognised as traditional owners in the Kenbi claim.

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“These mob don’t faze me,” Mr Fejo said.

“This is my home, I’ve got nowhere to go.”

In a statement yesterday the NLC said the 2016 agreement includes “a package of extensive benefits for the traditional Aboriginal owners and the broader Larrakia community”.

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