Last week Federal Court Judge Justice Robert French returned 53,000 square miles of land to the Martu people. The land, which was used by the British Government in the 1950s for weapons testing, includes sections of the Gibson and the Great Sandy deserts. In the 1980s the Martu people were permitted to return to their ancestral home but without federally approved ownership. The ruling brings to a close their six-year struggle for recognition of their legal claim. However, based on legal precedents, the land hand-over does not include the Rudall River National Park or rights to mineral and petroleum deposits in the region.See Spotlight Article
