Central Land Council

04-04-02
A Road Swap Win for All

Tourists have gained better sealed access to Gosse Bluff west of Alice Springs and Traditional Owners will gain title to two redundant road reserves in a road swap deal made possible by an amendment to the Land Rights Act.

The Minister for Indigenous Affairs Phillip Ruddock will present the titles of the two road reserves to members of the Ltalaltuma and Haasts Bluff Aboriginal Land Trusts at Hermmansburg on Saturday 6 April.

The handovers result from a road swap agreement made in 1999 following two years of consultations and negotiations between the then NT-Department of Transport and Works, the Traditional Owners and the Central Land Council.

The Traditional Owners agreed to surrender the land for the two new roads to the Northern Territory in return for two roads that were no longer required.

The new roads are the bitumen road from Namatjira Drive at Tyler's Pass to Larapinta Drive at the Ipolera turnoff, and a new access route into the Tnorala (Gosse Bluff) Conservation Reserve (see attached map). They were constructed and opened to the public in 2000.

The old unsealed roads returned to traditional owners are the former Namatjira Drive alignment from Tyler's Pass to Larapinta Drive near Hermannsburg, the former Tnorala access road and the Katapata Road from Tyler’s Pass to Katapata Gap on Larapinta Drive.

Central Land Council Director David Ross said, The road swap deal is a win for tourism and for traditional owners. It shows too that the Land Rights Act can be amended amicably to benefit all parties.

The new roads provide more direct and more comfortable routes for the public travelling from Kings Canyon to Glen Helen. Access to Gosse Bluff in the Tnorala Conservation Reserve is now much simpler and more direct via a sealed road. Traditional Owners gain greater privacy and better control over their land with tourist traffic now restricted to the new alignment of Namatjira Drive. This marks another stage of the Traditional Owners, the Central Land Council and the NT Government working together to develop the Mereenie Loop Road and tourism generally.

The agreement required an amendment to the Land Rights Act in 2000. Previously, the Act allowed the grant of redundant public roads that were through Aboriginal land granted after claim, but not roads through schedule 1 Aboriginal land (basically former reserves). The Aboriginal land in this case--Ltalaltuma and Haasts Bluff Land Trusts--is schedule 1 land. Now, the Act allows redundant public roads to be granted to Land Trusts, whether the relevant Aboriginal land was granted after claim or was scheduled.