Mandandanji People #2 - National Native Title Tribunal

is provided in the affidavits of (name deleted) (paras 2, 3, 8), (name deleted) (para 8)
and (name deleted) (paras 2, 12).
The material referred to above (in particular the affidavits) makes reference to specific
places within the area of the application. On the basis of the material considered above,
I am satisfied that there is a factual basis which supports the assertion that the native
title claim group have, and the predecessors of those persons had, an association with
the claim area.
190B(5)(b) – that there exist traditional laws acknowledged by, and traditional customs
observed by, the native title claim group that give rise to the claim to native title rights
and interests.
This subsection requires me to be satisfied that: traditional laws and customs exist; that
those laws and customs are respectively acknowledged and observed by the native title
claim group, and that those laws and customs give rise to the claim to native title rights
and interests.
At Attachment F of the amended application it is stated that there exist traditional laws
acknowledged by, and traditional customs observed by, the native title claim group that
give rise to the claimed native title.
Attachment F lists a number of activities currently carried out by members of the claim
group in support of this statement. They include:
• visitation and maintenance of cultural sites;
• maintaining knowledge of traditional customs, teachings and law;
• traditional hunting and fishing;
• collection and use of native flora and fauna and other materials from the land and
waters;
• use and knowledge of the scientific and medicinal properties of native flora;
• cultural heritage work including protection of burial sites, site clearance and cultural
heritage monitoring, reports and surveys and cultural heritage education for
Mandandanji people;
• knowledge, access and enjoyment of sites and items constituting the cultural
heritage of the Mandandanji People;
• education of younger members of the native title claim group in the ways of
Aboriginal culture, tradition and practices;
• naming of sites and places;
• negotiations with the various interest and stakeholders in relation to activities on the
claim area.
A number of these activities are also described in Attachment G. Further details of
these activities are outlined under s.190B5(c) below.
Further evidence of the existence of traditional laws and customs acknowledged and
observed by the members of the claim group is provided in the affidavits of (name
deleted) (paras 5, 6, 7, 8), (name deleted) (paras 9, 10, 11) and (name deleted) (paras
3. – 13). For example, (name deleted) recalls observing the older people still living a
traditional lifestyle, bearing ceremonial scars on their bodies and speaking the
traditional language of the Mandandanji . He also observed corroborees. He states that
he learned about hunting, preparing bush tucker and bush medicines from his mother
and grandmother. In his affidavit (name deleted) refers to the practice of traditional
medicine (para 3), mortuary rights (para 11), hunting game and the manufacture of
traditional weapons and artefacts (para 9); the burial of Mandandanji people on
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