A historic ceremony has taken place to formally hand back nearly half of Kakadu National Park to Aboriginal traditional owners.
For several decades, almost 10,000 sq km of the World Heritage-listed park in the Northern Territory have been the subject of four separate land claims.
Last Thursday, the fight for formal recognition ended when the Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt delivered the deeds of title to local elders.
"Aboriginal peoples' connection to their country and cultural traditions is uninterrupted and enduring," Mr Wyatt said.
"The granting of this land recognises this in law, giving traditional owners a say in the management of their land."
The ABC repoirts, under the new arrangements, the land will be leased back to the Director of National Parks, with an undisclosed amount of rent flowing to traditional owners.
Most of the other parts of the park had already been returned to traditional owners.
"These four land handbacks will now bring nearly all the land within Kakadu National Park under Aboriginal ownership," Environment Minister Sussan Ley said.
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