Judge upholds SA native title claim

A native title claim relating to two thirds of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula has been upheld by a judge, who has yet to decide whether those rights have been extinguished.

The Barngarla claim, which includes land and waters covering an area of about 44,481.75 square kilometres, was filed in April 1996.

In the Federal Court on Thursday, Justice John Mansfield found the claimants held the native title rights and interests over the area, excluding Port Augusta, the Spencer Gulf Islands and the seas south of Port Lincoln.

"I think it is clear that a group of people known as Barngarla people have continued to exist, and have continued to exist as a society bound together by the traditional laws and customs which existed at sovereignty," he said in his 178-page judgment.

Although their inevitable exposure to European settlement meant those laws and customs had evolved, the judge said this did not mean that the laws and customs which bound them were no longer traditional.

The judge heard evidence and legal argument on the issue of the existence of native title over 22 days from November 2012 to September 2013.

As well as hearing testimony from a number of the Barngarla people, Justice Mansfield heard evidence from linguists and anthropologists.

Justice Mansfield said he was satisfied that each of the claimed native title rights prima facie existed.

But the issue of whether those rights have been subsequently extinguished is a question to be determined in a subsequent hearing, he said.

"However, for present purposes, there are three problematic rights - the right to trade in resources of the area; the right to receive a portion of any resources taken by others from the area; and the right to maintain, protect and prevent the misuse of cultural knowledge associated with the area."