Australia gives national park land to Aboriginals

The Australian state of Queensland will return tens of thousands of acres of land to the original Aboriginal occupants, more than 30 years after it was made a national park.

Queensland premier Anna Bligh yesterday told the state parliament that 185,325 acres of land in far north-east Cape York Peninsula would be returned to the Wik Mungkan people.

"This decision puts an end to a shameful chapter in Queensland's indigenous history," Ms Bligh said. "It changes the outcome of a long legal battle which saw the legitimate legal rights of indigenous people of Cape York circumvented."

The area, known as Archer Bend, lies within what became Mungkan Kandju National Park in 1977, preventing Aboriginals or anyone else from buying land and establishing homes or businesses.

Queensland Sustainability Minister Kate Jones said the decision revokes the government's ownership of the area, allowing traditional owners to manage cultural and natural sites and establish businesses.