The Yorta Yorta Decision

Following the passage of the Native Title Act, several Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups lodged claims, seeking recognition and protection of their rights and interests in land. One of the first claims across the nation was made by the Yorta Yorta people in February 1994. The Yorta Yorta are an Aboriginal Nation whose traditional land extends across north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales, around the junction of the Murray and Goulburn rivers. They sought native title over 1,840 square kilometres of their traditional lands. As Yorta Yorta country has been heavily colonised by non-Indigenous people, the claim was seen as a test cast ‘to show the likely success of native title applications in such areas of Australia’.