The Wurundjeri people have lodged a native title claim over most of Greater Melbourne in documents filed with the Federal Court, more than 30 years after the landmark Mabo decision.

The 10,420-square-kilometre claim, which stretches from the Werribee River in the west to the base of Mount Baw Baw in the east and takes in the Macedon Ranges, the Yarra Valley and the top of Port Phillip Bay, follows successful native title claims by First Peoples over Adelaide and Perth.

It will bring to a head a long-running territorial dispute between Wurundjeri Woiwurrung and the neighbouring Boonwurrung people, whose unresolved native title bid overlaps significantly with land and waterways the Wurundjeri claim as theirs.

The lodgement of the claim, which brings to seven the number of native title applications before the Federal Court in Victoria, comes as Premier Jacinta Allan and the First Peoples’ Assembly prepare to sign the state’s first treaty agreement with its Aboriginal people.

The claim won’t have any impact on the rights of property owners in Melbourne, but could give Wurundjeri people greater influence over land and water use and the protection of culturally significant sites. This might include the use of traditional, wildfire prevention practices in the Dandenong Ranges and swaths of the Great Dividing Range.

A formal signing of the Victorian treaty is scheduled for Wednesday evening on the banks of the Yarra and will be followed the next morning by the legislation receiving royal assent from Governor Margaret Gardner at a closed meeting at Government House. A public event to celebrate the treaty is planned at Federation Square on December 12.

Although the Wurundjeri claim is not connected to the historic statewide treaty, it is part of a push by traditional owner groups across the state to consolidate their land rights through native title before they enter into their own treaty negotiations with the government.

An Aboriginal leader not authorised to speak about the Wurundjeri claim said it also signalled that First Peoples in Victoria had lost faith in the Traditional Owner Settlement Act, a state-based regime established by the Brumby government as an alternative to the federal native title system to secure their rights.

The Labor-aligned law firm acting for Wurundjeri, Slater and Gordon, expects the claim, if registered by the Native Title Tribunal, will be resolved through mediation with neighbouring Aboriginal groups and a negotiated settlement with the Victorian government rather that contested litigation.

Wurundjeri elder Uncle Perry Wandin, whose father Jim was recorded as the last Aboriginal person born at the site of the Coranderrk Aboriginal reserve secured by renowned Wurundjeri leader William Barak, said his mob had resorted to native title after becoming disillusioned at the way land rights were divvied up under the state regime.

“I have watched us lose the land we had, with every claim group trying to take parts of our country,” he said. “It is now time for the traditional lore and customs of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people to be recognised.”

Fellow claimant and Wurundjeri elder Uncle Bill Nicholson said that securing greater rights over the management of the Yarra River, known in Woiwurrung language as Birrarung, was central to the Wurundjeri claim.

“Part of our sovereign inheritance, handed down from our ancestors, is to care for Country, community and culture,” he said. “The Birrarung, all its catchments and all the land associated with it, is part of that inheritance.

“If we get native title over the Birrarung and the Maribyrnong as well, our voice and understanding of what caring for Country is all about will hopefully be listened to.”

The Wurundjeri’s “intrinsic connection” to the Yarra was recognised by the Victorian parliament in 2017 with the establishment of a Birrarung Council to advise the government on river management. The native title claim stretches south into Port Phillip Bay as far as fresh water flows from the Yarra.

Boonwurrung elder Aunty Carolyn Briggs, one of two surviving members of a native title claim group that began with seven elders, said she hoped the dispute between her mob and the Wurundjeri could be resolved without costly and time-consuming court actions.

“I say good luck them,” she said. “People have a right to make their claim. I hope that somehow, we can get this reconciled.”

The Wurundjeri claim will have no impact on the rights of home and commercial property owners in Greater Melbourne and surrounding areas. The 1993 Native Title Act makes clear and the High Court has subsequently affirmed that freehold title extinguishes native title.

The claim is focused on establishing native title over significant areas of parks and reserves and other vacant Crown land. This would give Wurundjeri greater influence over land and water use and protection of culturally significant sites.

Nicholson said a successful claim would also give the Wurundjeri greater capacity to employ traditional, wildfire-prevention practices in the Dandenong Ranges and the vast stretches of bushland across the Great Dividing Range which fuelled the catastrophic Black Saturday fires.

“There is no need for any sort of fear in the community,” he said. “This is all about Aboriginal people standing up for rights that have been handed down from our ancestors. We want to work with the broader community.”

The Kaurna people in South Australia secured a native title determination over an area including Adelaide in 2018 and all of Perth is covered by a native title settlement reached with the Noongar people in 2021.

“This is a moment of acknowledgement and respect,” said claimant and Wurundjeri elder Di Kerr. “It’s about ensuring our connection to country is recognised in law as it always has in truth.”

To be successful, Wurundjeri must prove a continuous connection to their traditional lands and waterways since European settlement. The difficulty of doing this in Victoria, where previous government polices systematically displaced Aboriginal people, was underscored by the failed Yorta Yorta case, in which the late Federal Court judge Howard Olney found the “tide of history” had washed away observance of traditional customs.

The Yorta Yorta claim was filed in 1994, just two years after Eddie Mabo won his High Court case, which overturned the legal principle of terra nullius and prompted the Keating government to legislate the Native Title Act.

The Wurundjeri claim was lodged last Friday by 11 of its members. They are being advised by a team of lawyers led by Slater and Gordon principal Peter Boyle and practice group leader Manisha Blencowe.

Wurundjeri’s first foray into native title was to dispute the eastern boundary of a claim by the neighbouring Wadawurrung over lands and waterways encompassing the Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong, Ballarat and Anglesea.

While that border dispute was resolved earlier this year, the Wurundjeri are yet to reach boundary agreements with Boonwurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and GunaiKurnai.

The claim will be considered by the Native Title Tribunal, which will decide whether to register it and notify affected parties. Claims from more First Nations groups in Victoria are expected to follow.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.