Usage of the word Yamatji in reference to non-Watjarri people has resulted from its adoption by non-Watjarri Aboriginal people from the Murchison, to describe any Aboriginal person born in that region. Yamatji peoples were involved in a large native title claim since 1996, resulting in an historic determination in February 2020, involving both native title and an Indigenous Land Use Agreement covering an area of.
Native Title claims
The Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation, pursuant to the Native Title Act 1993, is "the native title representative body for native title claims in the resource-rich Pilbara, Murchison and Gascoyne areas of Western Australia". There have been four executive directors of the YMAC: Wayne Warner ; former AFL footballer Clinton Wolf ; Roger Cook and current CEO Simon Hawkins. YMAC was until 2017 co-chaired by Pilbara representative Doris Eaton and Yamatji Representative Ben Roberts. Eaton was recognised as the NAIDOC Female Elder of the Year in 2009.
Claims
As of 2017 the Yamatji had made two of the twelve claims for native title in the Geraldton region. One, concerning the Wajarri Yamatji, was filed in 2004. The second was filed by the Southern Yamatji in 2017. The claim process was started in 1996, including several different groups making overlapping claims. In February 2016, a Federal Court of Australia judicial registrar convened mediation, resulting in outstanding overlaps being resolved and the commencement of negotiations with the Western Australian Government. In 2019, more than 1,000 claimants from four different claim groups came together in the Yamatji Nation Southern Regional Agreement, which brought together the claims of Southern Yamatji, Hutt River, Mullewa Wadjari and Widi Mob groups. After two years of intense negotiations, on 7 February 2020 the Yamatji Nation was awarded both native title recognition and a million package, for a claim of an area covering nearly, as far north as Kalbarri, east to Yalgoo, and south to Dalwallinu. There are about 9,000 traditional owners involved in the claim. It was the first time in Australia that both native title recognition and an Indigenous Land Use Agreement have been determined simultaneously. The decision had special significance for the Yamatji people, because of the widespread physical dispossession of their lands. As a result of the decision, Yamatji Nation will hold non-exclusive possession rights over parts of the former Barnong, Menai Hills and Kadji Kadji pastoral leases, as well as land near Wanda Nature Reserve, Lucky Bay and Aboriginal Lands Trust areas in Carnamah, Kadathini and Eneabba. It does not give them the right to control access and use of an area, but it does allow them to access, hunt and camp on this country. A conservation area will be created under joint management, empowering the traditional owners to be able to care for their country, and will offer opportunities for Indigenous ranger programs in the region. Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, stressed the significance of the decision, saying "It gives, through this determination, traditional owners a place at the table. You are no longer sitting outside waiting for a decision, you are co-developing, co-designing the future".
