AustLit

On the 1 January, 1963 at Eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory the Yolngu people of Yirrkala sent bark petitions written in the Yirrkala language, to the House of Representatives in protest against the Commonwealth's granting of mining rights to Nabalco over 390 square kilometres of their traditional land excised from Arnhem Land reserve. This petition was encouraged by the Reverend E. Wells, Gordon Bryant M.H.R. and Kim Beazley M.H.R. The result was a parliamentary inquiry which recommended that compensation was owed to the Yolngu. However, in a subsequent court case in 1972 (Milurrpum v Nabalco), the Yolgnu people were not able to establish their native title at common law.

The Yirrkala stated in the petition that the government had leased the land away without consultation with or regards to the Yirrkala's traditional way of life. The petition made the government set up a special committee to examine the process of leasing land and it was decided that monetary compensation or land grants would be made for land that was excised. This was not enough for the Yirrkala people; they issued writs to the Northern Territory Supreme Courts against Nabalco. The judgement handed down said that the Yirrkala's spiritual link with country did not constitute property right in Australia's law.