Warrwa Claimant Group Authorisation Meeting in Broome

Friday the 31st July marked a significant day for the Warrwa Traditional Owners as they participated in a Claimant Group Authorisation Meeting in Broome facilitated by the Kimberley Land Council Representative Body to bring together the Mawadjala Gadjidgar Point Torment and the larger Warrwa Combined Native Title Claims.  The all day meeting was well attended by Warrwa Traditional Owners, many of whom came from Darwin, Derby, Port Hedland, Karratha, Mullewa and Perth.

Stephen Comeagain informs Warrwa TO's of the Meeting Agenda

Prior to the Meeting, the Mawadjala Gadjidgar claimant group was represented by the KLC and the Warrwa Combined claimant group was represented by Hopgood Ganim Lawyers, Jonathan Fulcher and Kylie Pankhust, with Nicholas Green of Anthropos Australis WA Pty Ltd undertaking the latter’s heritage survey work.

Given the two native title claims are within Warrwa’s traditional country, it made sense for the claims to come together, not combined, in order to fast track the research required for the Connection Report, which the KLC is best place to manage given that they receive funding from the Commonwealth for this purpose.

After much discussion, the Warrwa Traditional Owners agreed to appoint 6 Applicants for each of the native title claims, for the KLC to represent them for the purpose of researching and prosecuting the claims, for Hopgood Ganim to manage the Future Acts and for Anthropos Australis WA Pty Ltd to manage the heritage survey work.

A considerable amount of trust and goodwill was shown by the Warrwa Traditional Owners in accepting the new arrangement as the way forward to protect Warrwa’s rights and interests.