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Hayes v Northern Territory [2000] FCA 671 (23 May 2000)
Category:	Case Law
Binomial Name:	Federal Court of Australia
Date:	23 May 2000
Sub Category:	Litigated Determination
Place:	Alice Springs
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State/Country:	Northern Territory, Australia
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Legal Status:	Registered on the National Native Title Register.
Legal Reference:	Federal court file no: NTD6002/96; Tribunal file n
Alternative Names:	Alice Springs Native Title Determination
Subject Matter:	Native Title \| Native Title - Extinguishment
Summary Information:
Hayes v Northern Territory [2000] FCA 671 (23 May 2000) Between: Myra Hayes and Others (APPLICANTS) AND The Northern Territory of Australia and Others (RESPONDENTS) Judge: Olney J Where: Darwin Determination: Native title exists in relation to parts of the determination area.
Detailed Information:
This determination arises from an application for determination of native title made by the applicants in respect of 166 separate parcels of land in and near Alice Springs. The Court ultimately determined that native title exists in relation to either the whole or part of 113 of the 166 areas claimed. As to the remainder, native title rights and interests were found to have been extinguished. The native title rights and interests identified are not exclusive. They do not confer the right to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the determination area to the exclusion of all others. The persons who hold the rights comprising native title are those who are descended from the original Arrente inhabitants if the Mparntwe, Antulye and Irlpme estates who are recognised under the traditional laws acknowledged and customs observed by them as having communal, group or individual rights and interests in relation to such estates. The nature and extent of the native title rights identified in relation to the determination area are: 'a) the right to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the land and waters of the determination area; b) the right to be acknowledged as the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land and waters of their respective estates within the determination area; c) the right to take, use and enjoy the natural resources found on or within the land and waters of the determination area; d) the right to make decisions about the use of the land and waters of their respective estates within the determination; e) the right to protect places and areas of importance in or on the land and waters within the determination area; f) the right to manage the spiritual forces and to safeguard the cultural knowledge associated with the land and waters of their respective estates within the determination area.' These rights and interests are subject to the rights of others validly granted by the Crown pursuant to statute or any valid legislative or executive act affecting the native title of the common law holders. This includes the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of the determination area according to law. In the event of inconsistency between the native title rights and the other non native title rights, the native title rights must give way to such other rights. The reasons for the decision are set out in Hayes v Northern Territory [1999] FCA 1248 (9 September 1999). The Court rejected a major feature of the Northern Territory Government's submission that pastoral leases granted before and after the surrender of the Territory to the Commonwealth in 1911 extinguished native title rights. (Note that while the original Respondents to the proceedings were the Alice Springs Town Council, the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority, the Solicitor for the Northern Territory and the Conservation Land Corporation, the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority withdrew as a party to the proceedings in June 1996 and the Northern Territory was substituted as a party in place of the Solicitor for the Northern Territory after the first directions hearing on 4 July 1996).