00:00Here in Cairns the final celebrations are being held for the official handing back of land to
00:08traditional owners across the Cape York area. Yesterday celebrations were held in Cooktown
00:15as a native title determination was made official for Gugu Yimita and Yitawara traditional owners
00:22and here today in Cairns Wutati traditional owners are officially having land handed back. Now this
00:28covers around 900,000 kilometers of land around that Cape York area and people we've spoken to today
00:34have said that it has been a monumental day. Traditional owners along that coast were the
00:40first to have prolonged contact with Captain James Cook and they said what followed was years of
00:46violence and massacres and displacement of people from that country. We spoke earlier with the Cape
00:53York Land Council acting CEO Richie Armat who said that this fight has been fought by elders for many
00:59many years and it is because of that that it is quite an emotional day because of the people that
01:04couldn't be here to hear this determination. Here's a bit of what he told us earlier. There's a lot of
01:09young kids here who are Wutati people. There was a lot of young kids yesterday and teenagers and you
01:15know the happiness in their faces to know that the elders who fought for these rights have passed down
01:24the responsibility to them and you know it is being a black fella it's incredible how you feel inside
01:32when you know now I've got an opportunity to develop my country. Now Mr Armat says that he hopes this
01:39determination will mean more prosperity for his people going forward and it'll mean that there is
01:45opportunities for economic development on country to sustain country and to continue that connection
01:51to country as well and he says it is important to remember that this is land that is being handed
01:56back to traditional owners and land that was stolen during colonisation. Now people here today say that
02:04they hope that this will mostly be beneficial for future generations as they move forward and go and
02:11continue that connection to country along that Cape York region.
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