00:00Yeah, so I do want to make it incredibly clear to everybody that this process does
00:08not encompass private land, so anyone that is sort of concerned about that, we do not
00:15have any claim to private land, it is primarily Crown land and I guess mainly things like
00:23national parks that we get to have our say in recognition in the land of waters there.
00:28Why did you decide to launch this claim, why is it extremely important to you and your
00:33people?
00:34I guess it's something that's been happening a long time in the making for generations
00:40and it's important to us that we have a say in the lands and waters that we have been
00:47caring for for generations and obviously this is an incredibly proud moment for our mob and
00:54yeah, it's about that recognition and the formal recognition that is and being able
01:00to practice our culture and have a say in the land.
01:03When you say have a say in the land and the management of the land, can you dig into the
01:08specifics a little bit more?
01:09I guess, I mean it's pretty early stages at the moment so what we will do and what we
01:15won't do and all of that is something to discuss later on but I guess the main objective is that,
01:24you know, especially in terms of the parks and things, is to be able to, the management
01:30of that and to care for the country and to make sure that it's prosperous and healthy like we've been doing for thousands of years.
01:34How important, Darcy, is native title to truth-telling?
01:39Incredibly important.
01:41Through the process itself we gather so much evidence about our past and our future and our history
01:47and that exposes itself through the claim process and tells a story of our mob and the truth of what happened to us and what will happen for us.
02:01You touched on a moment ago, Darcy, how this claim has been years in the making.
02:05Can you take us back through and how far back it goes?
02:09Yeah, well, if you think about it, this is an intergenerational thing back in the 1830s at least,
02:15when people came to Melbourne and settled here.
02:19This has been in the process for years of trying to reclaim our land and waters and the rights to practice our culture on those lands and waters.
02:28And that's the way I see it.
02:31I know that there are the native titles before the courts and some have already gone through.
02:37What sort of precedent might that set?
02:39How might it help your case?
02:42I think it's, I mean, any precedent from the court is obviously helpful in guiding us in the right direction and what we need to do and what works and what doesn't.
02:50And as well, I mean, hopefully we can make good negotiations with all the parties that are the relevant parties and we can keep the court out of it as much as possible.
03:01But yeah, prior decisions, of course, are incredibly helpful in showing us the way to go and what we need to do.
03:09What do you believe the timeline to be from here?
03:12It's pretty hard to say. I honestly couldn't tell you.
03:16There's lots and lots of research and lots of evidence that we need to show that is important to us and important to the claim.
03:23And so it could take a number of years, if anything, but this is an important first step, of course.
03:28To the next step, of course.
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