The following information should be used as a guide only and is subject to change.
It's a good idea to get legal help for your native title claim. Making a claim can involve gathering lots of information, and it may take some time to reach the final stages of the process.
Contact your native title representative body if you want:
Native title representative bodies are organisations appointed under theNative Title Act 1993 (NTA) to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with issues around native title. This may include help preparing a native title claim.
We’ll meet with you to start a conversation about your claim. We aim to resolve claims through negotiated settlements called ‘consent determinations’. If we can’t reach agreement that a consent determination can occur, you’ll be able to take your claim to trial in the Federal Court.
To arrive at a consent determination, you’ll need to provide evidence of your ongoing connection to traditional lands and waters. Ongoing connection can be many things, including:
This is in accordance with s. 223 of the Native Title Act 1993.
We call this ‘connection material’, and it helps us decide whether or not we can proceed towards a consent determination.
The Communities and Personal Histories team at the Department of Treaty, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Communities and the Arts has some great suggestions for places to start looking for your connection material.
You can also contact them by email at CPH@dsdsatsip.qld.gov.au or phone on 1800 650 230 to discuss your needs.
In the past, connection material has usually been provided in a connection report written by an anthropologist or support staff at a representative body. However, you can provide connection material in other formats, including:
We don’t restrict the type of connection material you can present. Your legal team will be able to help you prepare the material you need to support your native title claim.
If you do want to prepare a connection report, your elected anthropologist will generally prepare a report using this format:
We’ve co-designed guidelines to help prepare a connection report (PDF, 782KB), working together with native title representative bodies.
If your connection material demonstrates your ongoing connection to traditional lands and waters, we’ll be able to start negotiations about your proposed consent determination.
We’ll prepare a legal agreement to ask the Federal Court to make a determination that recognises your native title rights and interests. To do this, we’ll work with you, your legal representative and the representatives of other parties to your claim.
The Federal Court makes the final determination of native title for every claim, whether it’s negotiated through a consent determination process or goes through a trial process.
The Queensland Government is a party to your native title claim, and the Department of Resources is responsible for co-ordinating the state’s response to all native title claims in Queensland.
Wherever possible, we will negotiate with you, your legal representatives and the other parties to reach an agreement about your proposed native title determination.
If the parties can’t reach an agreement, you may decide to ask the Federal Court to hold a trial – your legal team will advise you if this is the direction you should take. The trial is a special type of hearing where the judge will consider evidence filed by the parties.
The Queensland Government will be included in the hearing. This means that we won’t be able to help you with your claim—however, native title representative bodies can offer support.
Once you have a native title determination, it's important that you understand your rights and responsibilities into the future.
To learn more about the native title process, you can:
