Old video shows confrontation on native title land, not Indigenous Australians making land grab

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A video of a woman being told to leave a parcel of land has resurfaced in social media posts that falsely claim it shows Aboriginal Australians seizing other people’s private property. The video was in fact filmed on land where an Indigenous group is recognised as having exclusive native title rights.

“Australian Aboriginals getting ready to take other people’s legitimate property and land,” reads part of a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on August 5, 2023.

The post is in response to a 48-second video that shows a woman being told to leave the land she is standing on.

Text on the video suggests it was filmed in Poona in Queensland.

“We own this land to the exclusivity of all others,” says the person filming.

“That comes under federal native title. You might not like it, but guess what, the times are changing. You don’t own the land that we do, get off it, please. Off our land.”

The video was shared as debate intensified ahead of an Indigenous rights referendum on October 14, when Australians will be asked to vote on whether Indigenous Australians should have an institutional “voice” in national policymaking.

If passed, Indigenous Australians — whose ancestors have lived on the continent for at least 60,000 years — would be recognised in the constitution for the first time.

Similar footage was shared by users who had expressed opposition to the proposal on X here, here and here, as well as on Facebook here and here.

The video, however, was filmed on land where an Indigenous group has exclusive native title rights, not private land that was taken from others.

AFP has also previously debunked misleading claims that implementation of the Voice would lead to Australians losing private property rights here and here.

Exclusive native title land

A keyword search on Google led to similar footage shared on Facebook here by Samala Cronin on January 4, 2021 (archived link).

The falsely shared video corresponds to a 48-second portion of Cronin’s video that begins at its one-minute 14-second mark.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the false post (left) and the Facebook video from 2021 (right):

Cronin told AFP on August 17 that she and her mother, who was the director of the Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC), had been checking the area at the request of the local government’s Fraser Coast Regional Council (archived links here and here).

The Butchulla people are the Traditional Custodians of K’gari (or Fraser Island), and the BNTAC manages and protects their rights (archived links here and here).

A regional council spokesperson told AFP on August 15 that, “Council officers were investigating coastal protection structures which had allegedly been constructed without approval and Council staff advised the Registered Body Corporate of that investigation.

“It was a matter for the organisation regarding how they responded and who they sent to examine the structures.”

The video was filmed along the foreshore in Poona between residential buildings and the sea (archived link).

The BNTAC were asked to look into the alleged illegal structure because it is a site where the Butchulla people hold exclusive native title rights — legal recognition of the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples on land according to their traditional laws and customs (archived link).

Below is an image comparison of the buildings and features seen in Cronin’s Facebook video (left) and the same location as seen on Google Street View (right), with matching features highlighted by AFP:

The land is Lot 84 on Plan MCH4331 (also written as 84MCH4331), which can be viewed on the government’s Queensland Globe website (archived link).

A spokesperson for the National Native Title Tribunal also told AFP this is covered by exclusive native title rights (archived link).

The spokesperson said on August 15 that “the majority of the town lots fall in the area where no determination of native title has been made, however surrounding this area is Lot 84 on MCH4331 where exclusive native title exists”.

A government map also shows the Butchulla people have exclusive native title rights on the site (archived link).

The site includes a link to a court decision on the matter from 2019 (archived link).

Griffith University law professor Kate Galloway told AFP that exclusive native title rights can only be granted to areas of unallocated land that did not have prior private ownership (archived link).

“It may be that the adjacent owners believe that they have rights over this land, but if the court has found native title to exist, then that means that they do not own it,” Galloway said on August 23.

Clipped video

The Facebook video uploaded in 2021 also includes a portion that is omitted from the clip falsely shared online. The omitted portion shows a man approaching Cronin and her mother, and when he sees Cronin recording, he lashes out, sparking a confrontation.

A spokesperson from the Queensland Police Service told AFP that the man had been cautioned.

“On January 5, 2021, a man was formally cautioned in relation to this matter for the offence of common assault,” they said on August 11.