Native Title Takes Over Queensland’s Sunshine Coast

Bribie Island, Noosa, Maroochydore, Caloundra, Mount Coolum, and the Glass House Mountains. These are just some of the places included in a massive 365,000-hectare native title ruling made this week. “Kabi Kabi people recognised as native title holders over the Sunshine Coast. A determination by Federal Court judge Justice Berna Collier at a special hearing in Brisbane on Monday recognised the Kabi Kabi people’s non-exclusive rights to an area including Gympie, Noosa…”, and so on.

So what are non-exclusive rights? According to the Queensland Government, “Non-exclusive native title can include, for example, the right to: Live and camp on an area; Light fires for personal or domestic use; Hunt and fish. These non-exclusive native title rights co-exist with the rights of other land users.” So I presume every Australian can continue to use the land as they have been, albeit perhaps with some Aboriginal people camping or living there, and lighting fires.

What did our dear Premier Steven Miles have to say? “The Kabi Kabi people have said they want people to continue to enjoy what makes the Sunshine Coast great — the Glasshouse Mountains, Mount Coolum, the beaches. I don't think there’s anything here to be concerned about.” The Kabi Kabi people have said? I don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about? That sounds convincing, doesn’t it!

Justice Collier said, “These orders recognise that the Kabi Kabi people have, and always have had, native title rights and interests in this country. I congratulate everyone involved for reaching agreement in this matter.” I don’t remember agreeing to this.

Noting that this determination marks the first occasion on Australia’s east coast when native title has been recognised in a heavily urbanised area, and it’s also the first time the right to take resources from the area for any purpose is been recognised in southeast Queensland. Take any resources for any purpose? What does that exactly mean?

When questioned about this, a spokesperson for the Queensland South Native Title Services responded, “What this determination of native title means is that the law of Australia recognises that the Kabi Kabi people, before colonisation, could exploit their natural resources for any purpose that they deemed necessary. There was no limitation on how they could exercise that right. For example, Kabi Kabi people had a right to take bunya nuts for food or for trade with other groups. Similarly, resources such as wood could be taken and made into artefacts which could be traded or sold. The determination recognises what the actual right is – a right to use resources for any purpose.”

Okay, so it sounds like the Kabi Kabi people can walk into say Noosa, set up camp, start a fire, go hunting, and take whatever they want, as long as it’s a resource, is that right?

CEO of the QSNTS Tim Wishart, commented on the ruling: “Kabi Kabi people have a right to move about on the land, to camp on the land, to build temporary structures, to teach their kids, to take some resources, to hunt, fish. Rights that coexist with the rights that every other Australian has. Native title is no threat to anyone. It doesn’t mean Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can come into Mum and Dad’s suburban backyard and set up camp. Native title is not a threat to them.”

Kabi Kabi Elder Uncle Michael Douglas, sorry, I seem to have mixed up my photos there. I’m joking people! I’m sure Uncle Mick hasn’t heard that one before. Anyway, he said, “This gives us our rights to go back and utilise, for our people to take timber, to make boomerangs or spears. All that stuff is in our hand and we can proudly walk away today, and we have been empowered.”

So what do you think? Is this a good thing giving people of certain ancestry more rights than the rest of us? Is this bringing us closer together, or just increasing the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians? I don’t know, but I guess Sunshine Coast residents will soon find out.

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn