Central Land Council

The roots of the CLC lie in the history of Aboriginal struggle for justice and our rights to our traditional land. The Land Rights Act gave Aboriginal people title to most of the Aboriginal reserve lands in the Northern Territory and gave the opportunity to claim other land not already owned, leased or being used by someone else. The Central Land Council region covers 771,747 square kilometres of remote, rugged and often inaccessible areas. Due to the dispersed population and large geographical areas, CLC staff travel more than a million kilometres in their work every year. There are 15 different Aboriginal language groups in Central Australia. The CLC region is divided into nine regions based around these language groups. Today Aboriginal people make up 27 per cent of the Northern Territory's population with more than 24,000 Aboriginal people living in Central Australia. Aboriginal people own 49 percent of the land in the Northern Territory. The Central Land Council is a representative body promoting Aboriginal rights. It is a statutory authority under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. It also has functions under the Native Title Act 1993 and the Pastoral Land Act 1992.