General+Information+on+Native+Title

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Native title is the recognition in Australian law that some Indigenous people continue to hold rights to their lands and waters, which come from their traditional laws and customs. Native title exists as a bundle of rights and interests in relation to land and waters where the following conditions are met: Native title has its source in the body of law and custom acknowledged and observed by the claimant’s ancestors when Australia was colonised by Europeans. Those laws and customs must have been acknowledged and observed in a ‘substantially uninterrupted’ way from the time of settlement until now.
 * the rights and interests are possessed under the traditional laws currently acknowledged and the traditional customs currently observed by the relevant Indigenous people
 * those Indigenous people have a ‘connection’ with the area in question by those traditional laws and customs; and
 * the rights and interests are recognised by the common law of Australia.

Native title:

 * can be extinguished (refused recognition) because of things the government has done, or allowed others to do, over a particular area that are inconsistent with native title
 * is not granted by governments — it is recognised through a determination made by the Federal Court, High Court and possibly some state and territory courts
 * will vary for each group because it comes from the traditional laws and customs of the group
 * exists alongside and is subject to, the rights of other people in the same area.