Western Australia's Payarri people celebrate state's 150th native title determination after 30-year journey

It was 1994 when Ngalia man Kado Muir first sat down with two of his elders and a lawyer to discuss lodging a native title claim for his ancestral country.

That conversation led Mr Muir to be the lead applicant for the Payarri native title claim.

"The process has been one of navigating through legal decisions, political ramifications, commercial interactions, and then of course within the community itself," he said.

Thirty years on, part of that journey ends today.

On Thursday, the Honourable Justice Murphy of the Federal Court of Australia will award exclusive native title to the Payarri title claim group.

150th determination provides hope for others

The Federal Native Title Act began in 1994, and since then there have been 150 title determinations in WA, including Payarri.

Central Desert Native Title Services Chief Executive Johanna Ramsay said the Payarri determination provided hope for other claimant groups across the state.

"That's 150 formal acknowledgements, by the Australian legal system, that Aboriginal people have maintained their connection to country since time immemorial," she said.

Payarri a 'magical environment'

The Payarri claim area covers around 3,700 square kilometres of land to the west of Lake Wells, around 180 kilometres north of the Goldfields town of Laverton.

Mr Muir said it was largely untouched country of spinifex, sandhills, clay pans and granite breakaways.

"There's no pastoral activity, there's no mining activity," he said.

He is also part of a neighbouring determination claim, Waturta, which is still awaiting a decision by the Federal Court.

"This is basically our homelands," he said.

"All of that country is part of the lands that my mother, her brother and sister, and parents walked and lived as traditional nomads, before they settled on the edges of civilisation."

He said it was this connection, and duty, that kept him working for native title over three decades.

"It's my duty and my obligation to my elders, as the young fella, to lay the foundation for the Mantjutjara and Ngalia people — to look to their future."

Connection through art

Mr Muir said his ancestral walking tracks were depicted in his painting Ngurrara Yiwarra, which formed part of his witness statement for the Native Title claim.

"It's basically all of our roads, and our waterholes, and our dreaming places, and where to find particular food and resources."

He said art had played a vital role in his family's continuing connection to country, and it was his mother who first picked up the paintbrush to tell her stories.

Now, his daughter is sharing stories from country too.

"She started to paint and create artworks inspired by my mother's stories, which are again inspired by country," he said.

Ranger group is next step

For Mr Muir, the acknowledgement of exclusive native title over Payarri is not about title to land.

"[It] is about reversing, and giving practical effect, to taking away the notion of terra nullius," he said.

"[It] is actually the first step in the process of reclaiming and starting to manage your country."

Mr Muir said the next steps for Payarri would include starting a ranger group to protect the unique area while providing employment.

"Really to try and activate the traditional ways of caring for country … which will result in protection for the nature and integrity of the landscape."