Katiti Aboriginal Land Trust facts for kids

The Katiti Aboriginal Land Trust (Katiti ALT) is a special land trust in the southwest of Australia's Northern Territory. It's a piece of land that belongs to the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, and Luritja Aboriginal people. This trust was created in 1980 after a process called the Katiti Land Claim.

The land is officially known as Northern Territory Portion 1818. It shares borders with the larger Petermann Land Trust and Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa National Park to the north and west. To the east and south, it borders two large cattle stations called Curtin Springs and Mulga Park. The town of Yulara, which is a popular tourist spot, is not part of the Land Trusts. It sits between the Katiti land and Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa National Park.

The trust gets its name from Katiti, which means Bobbie's Well. This is a natural spring located about 9 kilometres south of Lake Amadeus. Explorers Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen were the first to write about this spring. They visited it in 1894 on their way to Uluṟu and wrote down its name as "Kurtitina", which is more accurately Katitinya. Later, in 1903, an expedition led by Lawrence Wells visited the spring. Herbert Basedow then marked it on his maps as "Curtyteena".

How the Katiti Land Trust Was Formed

Before the 1970s, the land that is now part of the Katiti Aboriginal Land Trust was considered "crown land" by the government. This meant it was owned by the government. In 1920, a large area to the southwest was set aside as an Aboriginal reservation. Also, in 1958, the area around Uluṟu and Kata Tjuta became the Ayers Rock–Mt Olga National Park. However, the Katiti block was seen as unused land.

The Aboriginal Land Rights Act

In 1976, the Australian Federal Government passed an important law called the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. This law made it possible for Aboriginal communities to claim ownership of unused land. If they could show they had a historical connection to the land, they could be given full ownership, known as "freehold title". This meant they would own the land outright, similar to how someone owns their house. Section 4 of this law gave the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs the power to create Land Trusts. These trusts would then look after the land on behalf of the Aboriginal owners.

The Katiti Land Claim

The Katiti Land Claim was officially made in 1979. The claim was for a larger area than what the Trust owns today. It even included the Ayers Rock–Mt Olga National Park. The claim was put forward by the Central Land Council for hundreds of people, most of whom lived at Muṯitjulu.

On 30 September 1980, the people were granted legal ownership of the land now held by the Katiti ALT. They did not get ownership of the Ayers Rock–Mt Olga National Park because it was already a national park. However, they were officially recognised as the park's traditional owners (nguraṟitja).

Some other areas were also not included in the land granted. These were:

• A 104 square kilometre area around the tourist town of Yulara.
• A 3 square kilometre area covering the Petermann Road, which tourists used to reach Uluṟu.

Later Changes to Land Ownership

The Petermann Road was later replaced by a new road called the Lasseter Highway. On 23 February 1990, the government transferred the ownership of the old Petermann Road to the Katiti ALT.

Legal ownership of the national park's land was eventually given to its traditional owners in 1985. The title to this area is now held by the Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa Aboriginal Land Trust. The ownership of the Yulara area was part of a court case that finished in 2006.