Wik Peoples v Queensland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wik Peoples v Queensland
High Court of Australia
Date decided	December 23, 1996
Full case name	The Wik Peoples v State of Queensland & Ors; The Thayorre People v State of Queensland & Ors
Citations	(1996) 187 CLR 1
Judges sitting	Brennan CJ, Dawson Toohey, Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow & Kirby JJ
Case history
Prior actions:	Wik Peoples v Queensland (1996) 134 ALR 637 - Federal Court of Australia decision
Subsequent actions:	none
Case opinions
(4:3) the pastoral leases in question did not extinguish native title (per Toohey, Gaudron, Gummow & Kirby JJ) (4:3) native title rights and pastoral lease rights can coexist, but where they are inconsistent, the pastoral rights prevail (per Toohey, Gaudron, Gummow & Kirby JJ)

The Wik Decision is a decision of the High Court of Australia in Wik Peoples v. The State of Queensland in December 1996, regarding the right of access by the Wik peoples of Cape York Peninsula in North Queensland to Crown land held under pastoral leases for cattle grazing. The court decided (4 judges to 3) that the rights of indigenous people who can prove a connection to the land can coexist with the rights of the leaseholders (or pastoralists), but where there is any inconsistency between the two, the rights of the pastoralist will prevail.

In other words, pastoral leases do not automatically give exclusive possession to the pastoralist, and therefore do not necessarily extinguish native title. This had been a major assumption upon which the Commonwealth Native Title Act had first been drafted.

Since the case, the Native Title Amendment Act has been created, introducing more stringent procedures for awarding Native Title.