THE AGE Yorta Yorta regain Murray land By SHARON O'BRIEN Wednesday 16 August 2000 The Yorta Yorta people expect to take over formal ownership of 259 hectares of Murray River land soon. When the Yorta Yorta nation Aboriginal Corporation's bid to regain ownership of the Barmah forest and central Murray region failed in the High Court last year, the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) stepped in to buy Murray River land on its behalf. In 1995 the Federal Government, recognising that most indigenous Australians dispossessed of their lands would be unable to regain ownership and control through native title processes, established the ILC. Yorta Yorta spokeswoman Monica Morgan said the people expected to take formal ownership of the former farm "any day now". "The country - we call it Yeilima - is part of our traditional land," she said. "I can't tell you what Yeilima means because we haven't kept enough of our language but our people lived here before white occupation. "Uncle Colin (a tribal elder) here has clear memories of being there as a young boy. "Our people know it's a very great property," said Ms Morgan of the 259-hectare former cattle farm, "for fishing and swan eggs, that type of thing. Uncle Colin has always fished here in the very deep water along the Murray." The former farm is surrounded by one of the largest native red gum forests in the world and has recently seen tighter government controls placed on public use of the area. "We're looking forward to working with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on this place," Ms Morgan said. "We'd like to stock the place with Murray cod and yellow-belly and reintroduce medicines and plants." Much of Yeilima has been cleared for irrigation and grazing, but the cultural significance of the property and the neighboring forest to the Yorta Yorta remains high. "Quite a few of our people worked on this place over the years," Ms Morgan said. "Working on farms was common for Aboriginal people. ... And it's kept our connection with the land." "The point of owning this land again is to have a whole multi-faceted approach to the way we work with the land. We may look at diversional therapy for our young people who get into trouble, or Yorta Yorta people could just come here and camp and focus on traditional practices without interference from whitefellas," she said "This (purchasing Yeilima) is about how ... governments are going to help traditional owners utilise their lands." -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ 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/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
