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Friday 4 October 2002, Media Release

DARKINJUNG SEALS LAND DEAL WITH MIRVAC

A multi-million dollar land deal between Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Mirvac Group will be sealed today at a Central Coast ceremony.

As the most lucrative land sale by a Local Aboriginal Land Council since the inception of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act in 1983, the deal has been hailed a milestone in the struggle for self determination by Aboriginal people.

The final contract is still conditional on Mirvac receiving official consent for the residential and golf resort development planned for the 101 hectares of land at The Entrance North. However, the land is currently zoned for this purpose.

"Today is a great day of celebration. We are not only celebrating the economic benefits from this deal, but the achievements and hard work of the Darkinjung membership," Darkinjung Treasurer Roger Sentance said today.

"This deal gives us the means to tackle disadvantage and the social problems that come with it. We are currently talking to leading financial advisors about the best way to ensure this money can be invested to benefit our people in the long term."

Mirvac Group Managing Director, Mr Robert Hamilton, said the conditional contract would allow Mirvac to focus its attention on designing and planning a world-class residential and golf resort development on the 2 km beach front site, which is about 1.5 hours drive from Sydney.

"We recognise it was a very important step for Darkinjung to consider selling the land and we aim to produce an environmentally sensitive, quality development of which everybody will be proud," Mr Hamilton said.

As part of the deal, Mirvac has entered into an employment strategy with the Darkinjung community to provide employment opportunities both during the development of the project and in the later operation of the resort.

Darkinjung Treasurer Roger Sentance said that Darkinjung will be putting in place education and training programs for local Aboriginal people as well as is looking at investing in other programs to address unemployment, education, housing and health issues.

"We are extremely happy that we will be part of this development that will deliver economic benefits not only to our people, but to the entire community by providing employment and boasting tourism to the area."

NSW Aboriginal Land Council Councillor for the Sydney/Newcastle Region, Veronica Graf, said the deal is one of the great success stories in the history of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act.

"The legislation was delivered to compensate our people for the loss of their land and give them the chance to move toward self determination. The money raised through this deal will allow us to put programs in place to deliver long-lasting benefits for our people," Ms Graf said.

"Today's ceremony will mark a pivotal moment, not just for Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, but for all of our people in this State. It is another example of how far we have come down the road towards self sufficiency."

The NSWALC is an independent, self-funding body set up under the State legislation which oversees 120 Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) around the State.