Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Com v Victoria

The High Court of Australia heard an appeal concerning native title claims brought by the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community against the State of Victoria and others. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the Yorta Yorta people held native title rights over certain lands and waters in Victoria, specifically in the Goulburn and Murray River areas, following the extinguishment of those rights by subsequent grants of interests in the land. The applicants sought recognition of their traditional rights and interests in the claimed area.

The central legal question before the High Court was whether the Yorta Yorta people had maintained their connection to the claimed lands and waters according to traditional laws and customs at the time of sovereignty and continuously thereafter, such that their native title had not been extinguished by subsequent legislative and executive acts. This required the Court to consider the nature of the connection required to establish native title under the *Native Title Act 1993* (Cth) and the effect of various historical grants and legislative regimes on the extinguishment of such title.

The High Court, in a majority decision, found that the Yorta Yorta people had not maintained their connection to the claimed lands and waters according to traditional laws and customs at the time of sovereignty and continuously thereafter. The Court reasoned that the extinguishment of native title occurred through the granting of pastoral leases and other interests in the land, which were inconsistent with the continuation of native title rights. The majority applied the principle that native title is extinguished where the Crown grants rights that are irreconcilable with the continued existence of native title. The Court held that the evidence did not demonstrate a sufficient and continuous observance of traditional laws and customs by the Yorta Yorta people in the period after European settlement to preserve their native title rights.

Consequently, the High Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the decision of the Full Federal Court. The Court found that the Yorta Yorta people had failed to establish that native title existed in relation to the claimed area.