ATNS - Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements project

Back to search results

Print this page
Pumpkin Island (Koey Ngurtai) Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA)
Date:	27 July 2004
Date To:	This agreement has now expired.
Sub Category:	Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) (Native Title Act)
Place:	Pumpkin Island, Torres Strait
	Click this link to search this location with google maps
State/Country:	Queensland, Australia
	Click this link to search this location with google maps
	The area covered by this ILUA comprised Pumpkin Island in the Torres Strait. This area was subject to the Badu (Badu Islanders) #1 Native Title Determination Application (National Native Title Tribunal File No. QC96/63). The ILUA area was also within the Torres Shire Council local government area and the Torres Strait Regional Authority ATSIC region.
Legal Status:	Removed from the National Native Title Tribunal Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements on 3 May 2011.
Legal Reference:	National Native Title Tribunal File No: QI2004/002
Subject Matter:	Defence \| Future Act \| \| Land Transaction \| Land Use \| Native Title
Summary Information:
This Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) was agreed between the Commonwealth government (represented by the Australian Customs Service and the Department of Defence), the traditional owners of Pumpkin Island and the Mura Badulgal (Torres Strait Islander) Corporation. The object of this ILUA was to allow the Commonwealth to construct, maintain and operate a High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) for customs and defence-related purposes on Pumpkin Island in the Torres Strait.
Detailed Information:
Contents of this ILUA For the purposes of this ILUA, the 'traditional owners' of Pumpkin Island were defined as 'all those Torres Strait Islanders who have rights or interests according to Torres Strait Islander tradition in relation to the Agreement Area [being Pumpkin Island]'. This category included the applicants for the Badu (Badu Islanders) #1 Native Title Claim (National Native Title Tribunal No. QC96/63). Pursuant to this ILUA, the parties consented to the grant of a 10-year lease to the Commonwealth government by the State of Queensland. The Queensland government was not party to the ILUA. However, under the ILUA, the parties consented to 'all acts, matters and things reasonably necessary' for the grant of the lease and the acquisition of the lease by the Commonwealth under the Lands Acquisition Act 1989 (Cth). The parties to this ILUA agreed to the construction, operation and maintenance of the transmitter site for the HFSWR in the lease area. This included: the construction of related facilities; other activities related to the project, for example 'access by sea or air'; and 'the doing of all other acts, matters or things reasonably necessary' for the grant of the lease and the conduct of the project. The ILUA specified that the right to negotiate provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) did not apply to any of the future acts to which consent had been granted under this agreement. An ILUA for the construction, maintenance and operation of a HFSWR receiver site was made over Dauan Island, also in the Torres Strait. A link to this agreement has been included below. Removal from the Register This ILUA has now been removed from the National Native Title Tribunal Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements. It was removed under s 199C(1)(c)(i) of the Native Title Act 1993, which allows the removal of an ILUA from the Register if a party advises the Registrar in writing that the agreement has expired, and the Registrar believes, on reasonable grounds, that it has expired.