A historic ceremony will take place today to formally hand back nearly half of Kakadu National Park to Aboriginal traditional owners.
For several decades, almost 10,000 square kilometres of the World Heritage-listed park in the Northern Territory have been the subject of four separate land claims.
On Thursday afternoon, the long fight for formal recognition will end when the Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt delivers the deeds of title to local elders.
"Aboriginal peoples' connection to their country and cultural traditions is uninterrupted and enduring," Mr Wyatt said.
"The granting of this land recognises this in law, giving traditional owners a say in the management of their land."
The vast tracts of land being returned are the traditional country of the Limilngan/Minitja, Murumburr, Garndidjbal, Yurlkmanj, Wurngomgu, Bolmo, Wurrkbarbar, Matjba, Uwinymil, Bunidj, Djindibi, Mirrar Gundjeihmi and Dadjbaku peoples.
Under the new arrangements, the land will be leased back to the Director of National Parks, with an undisclosed amount of rent flowing to traditional owners.
Most of the other parts of the park had already been returned to traditional owners.
"These four land handbacks will now bring nearly all the land within Kakadu National Park under Aboriginal ownership," Environment Minister Sussan Ley said.
Thursday's ceremony will take place at the Cooinda Lodge, which is the location of one of the four areas being handed back.
The other areas cover significant sections of the western side of the park.
While the Kakadu region has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 60,000 years, the park itself was declared in stages from the 1970s.
Gaining formal ownership of their ancestral lands will also provide traditional owners with greater economic opportunities by being able to control the types of developments that occur.
In addition to the four Kakadu land claims, two other handbacks will take place on Thursday several hundred kilometres away in the town of Mataranka.
They include handbacks of the Old Elsey Homestead and the Urapunga township.
