ABC Regional News Mon, 26 Jul 1999 14:18 AEST Reconciliation a step closer with land handover The Federal Government says today's handover of 450,000 hectares of land south-east of Alice Springs, to traditional owners, is a positive step for reconciliation. The Governor-General, Sir William Deane, has handed back the Tempe Downs and Middleton Ponds cattle stations to almost 400 traditional people under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Dr Sharman Stone, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Environment Minister, who is representing the Government at the handover, says it has been an emotional ceremony. "This is all about reconciliation. It's about understanding the last 200 years of history in Australia, where we've had the coming together of indigenous people and European settlement," Dr Stone said. "It's about understanding how we can manage the great arid zones of Australia better. "It's about saying this is land that was yours and still is land now that is continuing to be yours into perpetuity." ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
