Queensland native title case makes history

Thirty years after Eddie Koiki Mabo's historic land rights win, another native title milestone is being celebrated in far north Queensland.

The Federal Court on Wednesday formally recognised the native title rights of five traditional owner groups over land and sea across the Torres Strait and northern Cape York.

In a landmark case, native title consent determination was handed down for the Ankamuthi, Gudang Yadhaykenu, Kaurareg, Kemer Kemer Meriam and Kulkalgal peoples at the special hearing on Thursday Island.

It marked the first time First Nations peoples of the Torres Strait and Australia's mainland worked together to jointly seek native title recognition following an agreement between the groups in 2020.

"The court's orders today mark a truly momentous occasion," Justice Debra Mortimer said in her judgment on Wednesday.

"(First Nations people) ... have come together in a united way not seen before in the native title jurisdiction between the people of the Torres Strait and those of the northern Cape."

The joint native title claim covers more than 2500 hectares of land and about two million hectares of waters, the Queensland government said.

It is believed to be the largest sea claim determined in the country.

Claims in the region were first made in November 2001.

Seven separate and overlapping native title claims were resolved by the determination settlement.

"The procedural history of these claims is one of the longest and most complicated among the cases currently active in this court," Justice Mortimer said.

The determination not only recognises native title rights but also access and use of areas in the region to hunt, fish and gather resources while also protecting places and areas of importance.

Gudang Yadhaykenu man Bernard Charlie described what the area meant to him.

"When I come to my sea country, I sleep right. It feels like I'm in my lounge room, at home...I feel like I'm looked after," he said in Justice Mortimer's judgment.

Justice Mortimer added: "Many other claim group members provided similar accounts in their witness evidence.

"It is not possible in these reasons to capture the depth of feeling expressed in the evidence before the court."

Justice Mortimer handed down the determination on Thursday Island 30 years after native title history was first made.

The 1992 High Court success of Mr Mabo, a Meriam man, recognised native title in Australian law for the first time. 

"I can remember the emotion of that moment to this day. It was a feeling that we had honoured our ancestors and righted a past wrong," Father Simeon Kedd Noah, also a Meriam man, said in Justice Mortimer's judgment.

The federal government on Wednesday congratulated the five traditional owner groups as well as their legal representatives, Cape York Land Council and Gur A Baradharaw Kod Sea and Land Council.

The determination ensures Australia meets a target under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, which aimed for a 15 per cent increase in sea country subject to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal rights and interests by 2030.

Native title is now recognised in more than 30 per cent of Queensland, with 181 claims finalised.

"Recognising native title is vital to Queensland's path towards reconciliation," Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.