Central Land Council

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ian Viner and the Country Liberal Party's Northern Territory Legislative Assembly leader, Paul Everingham, attend a CLC meeting in Alice Springs.

The Northern Territory is granted self-government. Paul Everingham, the leader of the Country Liberal Party, becomes the first Chief Minister and soon lifts the freeze on new leases of vacant crown land. The freeze was introduced by Prime Minister Whitlam in 1974 to allow breathing space for the Woodward Commission and the preparation of land claims. The move means that vacant crown land can be alienated by the Northern Territory Government and so become unavailable for claim under the Land Rights Act. The Chief Minister promises that he won't take any action that will interfere with land claims, and writes to the CLC: 'It is not the intention of the Northern Territory Government to attempt to avoid the intentions of the [Land Rights Act].' This promise is repeatedly broken.

The Utopia land claim hearing is adjourned when Chief Minister Paul Everingham asks the High Court to prevent the claim going ahead. The Northern Territory Government argues that the claim should not be heard because the land is a pastoral lease and that the Aboriginal Land Fund Commission, which purchased the station, does not hold the land 'on behalf of Aboriginal people'. This is the first of many attempts by the Northern Territory Government to use the courts to block claims. While almost entirely unsuccessful, these legal challenges delay and frustrate the land claim process and traditional landowners. Mr Everingham we don't like what you are doing trying to stop our claim to make Utopia Aboriginal land. We hold the land in a stronger way than whitefellas. We hold it from our fathers and our grandfathers. We hold it as Kurtingurlu. We can't leave our country behind. If we go away bad things will happen. Somebody might get killed if we go somewhere else. We can't leave this country. We have to hold this land. It has our dreamings and sacred places. We've got sacred everything here. This has been our land, it has been our food, for a long long time, this country. You just can't hold us up again, like whitefellas did before. A letter signed by 100 traditional landowners from Utopia

The Tiwi Land Council is formed to represent the traditional landowners of Bathurst and Melville islands. These islands had been part of the Northern Land Council region but the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Ian Viner, establishes a separate land council following representations from the Tiwi people for recognition of their distinct cultural and geographic identity.