Noongar Land Estate

The Noongar Land Estate (NLE) is a key component of the South West Native Title Settlement.

The NLE will be made up of a maximum of 320,000 hectares of land across the Settlement area, including reserve, leasehold and freehold land.

There are three land categories of the NLE - Development Land, Housing Land, and Cultural Land.

While Regional Corporations get a say in what happens on Development and Housing Land, the Trustee is the ultimate decision maker. The land which Regional Corporations get the most control over, should they wish to, is Cultural Land, which is why KKAC has developed a range of polices and strategies to make sure that we are allocated land which gets us the best opportunities to further our objectives and provide for social, economic and cultural outcomes for our Members.

The Cultural Land Identification Policy developed in consultation with the Board and Cultural Advice Committee, gives us clear priorities and parameters around Cultural Land identification and future use.

Karrak Aboriginal, supported by the expertise of land activation expert Kate Oosterhof of KO&Co., have been going through the South West Boojarah region, lot by lot, informed by the Corporation’s Cultural Land Identification Policy.

Download: Karri Karrak Cultural Land Identification Policy PDF 328 KB

While KKAC will never own NLE land and Cultural Land specifically, it can make sure that it the land selected represents a good opportunity for KKAC to support Member businesses, cultural practices and connections, pursue economic activation, and protect, conserve and manage Country.

The KKAC Cultural Advisory Committee (CAC) reviews land for cultural value and provides recommendations to the KKAC Board.

Advice is then given to the Trustee about if and how the land should be allocated to the Noongar Boodja Trust.

If land does not have cultural value, then the land is either allocated as Housing or Development land or rejected from the NLE. Defining ‘cultural value’ will depend on the CAC and Board, which is why each Regional Corporation may have a slightly different approach to Cultural Land identification.

We have developed four equal pillars of what cultural value may be.

KKAC will consider the pillars when assessing land for inclusion in the NLE. This helps guide our team and will result in strong and consistent decision making.

It also shows there is a range of ways land may have cultural value, and allows us to strongly advocate for land which should be included in the NLE as Cultural Land. It would not be uncommon for land to fit within multiple pillars, as they are all connected in their ability to provide long term and sustainable social, economic and/or cultural benefit to our members.

Over the next 12 months, Karri Karrak is turning its focus to the Member Benefit pillar and engaging with our members about their aspirations for land they can access and use.

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