Maralinga traditional owners are receiving the final piece of their homeland, and they hope to turn the former nuclear test site into a tourism mecca.
The federal government will officially return the 1782sqkm site in South Australia to the Aboriginal community on Wednesday.
Defence Minister David Johnston, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, independent senator Nick Xenophon and air force chief Geoff Brown will attend the ceremony.
Maralinga-Tjarutja general manager Richard Preece says the community is setting up a tourism business to take visitors on bus tours of the traditional area and nuclear test sites.
There is strong interest from four-wheel-drive clubs, grey nomads and former servicemen who were based in Maralinga, and tours are planned to start from April next year.
Senator Scullion has hailed the tourism venture, telling AAP the government is committed to working with traditional owners to ensure land can be used as a foundation for economic advancement, not as a barrier.
Senator Johnston hopes the handover will provide some solace to the Maralinga people, many of whom were removed from their traditional lands and relocated to missions.
The British tested atomic bombs in the South Australian outback in the 1950s and '60s. Most of the Maralinga-Tjarutja land was handed back to indigenous people in 2009 after rehabilitation work was completed
between 1993 and 2001.
Defence kept the weapons testing range, which was restricted as part of the Woomera Prohibited Area.
