Australia's Daintree rainforest returned to Indigenous owners

The Daintree rainforest is teeming with wildlife

Australia's Daintree rainforest has been returned to its Indigenous owners as the government begins to cede control of the world's oldest tropical forest.

The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park -- a 135-million-year-old tropical rainforest -- was handed back to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people in a ceremony in the remote town of Bloomfield on Wednesday.

Eastern Kuku Yalanji traditional owner Chrissy Grant said the move was a historic event that put the community "in control of our own destinies".

British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, colonising the continent and leaving Aboriginal groups marginalised.

Grant said a foundation would be created to provide training and employment for local First Nations people in areas such as land management, tourism and research.

"The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people's culture is one of the world's oldest living cultures and this agreement recognises their right to own and manage their country, to protect their culture and to share it with visitors as they become leaders in the tourism industry," she said.

hr/arb/dva/mtp

...

Originally published as Australia's Daintree rainforest returned to Indigenous owners