Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners (Aboriginal Corporation) RNTBC

The Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners (Aboriginal Corporation) acts as the agent for the native title rights and interests of the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka people of far north eastern South Australia. Their native title over their traditional lands was recognised by the Yandruwandha/Yawarrawarrka Native Title Claim determination in December 2015.

This determination arose from a native title claim made in 1998. Thirteen separate Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) were negotiated as part of securing a consent determination, on topics including access to pastoral leases, reserves and national parks; fishing; and oil exploration.

The traditional lands of the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka people lie within the Cooper Basin, a large geological formation across south western Queensland and north eastern South Australia which hosts Australia’s most important onshore oil and gas deposits. The Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Petroleum Conjunctive ILUA provides a framework for the State Government and native title holders to work jointly to manage the granting of petroleum exploration and production licences within the claim area. This is the first such agreement for an area which is already an established petroleum-producing region. It also ensures that any activity which takes place pursuant to the granting of a licence serves only to suspend, not extinguish, native title rights and interests.

A final ILUA, the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Native Title Claim Settlement ILUA, was to be signed following the consent determination, leading to the extinguishment of native title in agreed upon areas within the town of Innamincka.