Now that one of Australia's longest-running and most complicated Aboriginal land claims has finally been settled, a traditional owner hopes the Larrakia people will begin mending the rift dividing the community.
Raelene Singh and her family have been recognised by the government as the rightful owners of the Kenbi site on the Cox Peninsula, across the harbour from Darwin, and in a ceremony on Tuesday received the title deeds to the land from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
"To me it feels joy and a relief to finally get this land handed back and to become finally Aboriginal land," she told AAP.
Running since 1979, in April the land claim was finally completed, following two hearings, three Federal Court reviews and two High Court appeals.
The final agreement includes 52,000 hectares as land trust land and 13,000 hectares as freehold land which can be used for indigenous business development, with about 1600 Larrakia people to benefit.
Some Larrakia people are still very unhappy with the resolution of the claim and do not support Ms Singh's family being designated as traditional owners.
As a senior ranger, she said she was looking forward to caring for sacred sites as her ancestors did, and creating more jobs in the community of Belyuen, perhaps starting with an ecotourism venture.
Ms Singh said she hoped that now the handover was complete healing would begin with other Larrakia groups.
"Even though they didn't win or they never been recognised, still in all, it's Larrakia land and I want to share," she said.
"I've seen a few people who was fighting for this land too, they came and congratulated me and that made me feel more good. That's the first sign, to see that, from Larrakia mob."
Mary Raymond, from another Larrakia family, said she hoped Ms Singh's family made good use of the land.
"It was a pain in the heart, but they won it, that's it ... I don't have bad feeling towards them," she said.
Darwin Larrakia man Eric Fejo had sharp words for assembled leaders, imploring Larrakia people to stick together and rejecting the government's mantra of northern development.
"You mob can take your white paper - developing the north at what cost? This is our life that we live," he shouted, visibly emotional.
Earlier, the prime minister acknowledged the trauma of the past and said the handback proved Australian law could provide "some justices" for indigenous people.
"In policies past, Larrakia people were not treated with the respect you deserved - you were confined to reserves, your movement was restricted, your camps like Lameroo Beach were relocated to compounds, and over generations, children were separated from their families," Mr Turnbull told traditional owners.
"This trauma and suffering cannot be denied; today, we acknowledge these injustices."
When the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was first enacted in the Northern Territory 40 years ago, it "frankly terrified" the non-indigenous population, said Joe Morrison, CEO of the Northern Land Council.
"This journey has been stressful for many," he said, paying tribute to community leaders who didn't live to see the outcome of their decades-long fight.
But the economic development and the cultural protection of the peninsula in the decades to come was a cause for celebration, he said.
