Larrakia traditional owners have won one of Australia's longest-running Aboriginal land rights claims, but not everyone's happy.
On Wednesday it was announced that 37 years after they began, traditional owners had agreed to the terms of the final proposed settlement of the Kenbi land claim, covering 676sq km of the Cox Peninsula west of Darwin.
There have been ongoing disputes since before the claim was lodged in 1979 between different Larrakia groups who don't accept that the Tommy Lyons family group were determined to be the primary traditional owners.
Northern Land Council CEO Joe Morrison said the Kenbi land claim "has gone down in our history as the most complex and hard-fought", subject of two hearings, three Federal Court reviews and two High Court appeals.
It was recommended to be designated Aboriginal land in 2000 but ongoing negotiations have revolved around compensation for allowing permit-free ongoing access for the public to access the peninsula's intertidal zone for fishing and camping, and for almost $32 million worth of asbestos contamination clean-up.
"We're not greedy... we've been patient for our country."
The agreement includes 52,000 hectares for land trust land and 13,000 hectares as freehold land which can be used for indigenous business development, with about 2000 Larrakia people to benefit.
But the tense negotiations remain apparent, with Mr Morrison calling them "torturous", exhausting, and stressful for everyone involved.
"I want this day to be an occasion of celebration, in spite of the reservations held by some of the Larrakia people," he said.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the land had always belonged to the Larrakia: "That land has always been Aboriginal people's land, it is really important that we acknowledge and recognise today that they have always looked after that land, they have always had a cultural connection with that land, and that cultural connection remains to this day, unbroken."
He said the designated traditional owners had been "as generous as they could possibly be" in trying to reconcile with other disaffected Larrakia groups.
"This is a settlement that in many ways reaches out to those people who felt dispossessed or left out of the original determination," Senator Scullion said.
Raylene, Jason and Zoe Singh are grandchildren of Tommy Lyons and the land claim struggle has been a feature of their lives since they were children - passed on by their parents, who died before seeing it resolved.
"Very happy, we've been waiting for a long time," Zoe said.
"It's very exciting ... but sad at the same time."
She said she wasn't sure if the other competing groups would be appeased.
"We're willing to share ... our country, let them come over, hunting. We're not greedy ... we've been patient for our country."
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