What did the High Court say in the Wik case?
The Wik case relates to a claim of native title on land which included two pastoral leases, granted by the Queensland Government. The High Court said that native title can only be extinguished by a law or an act of the Government which shows a clear and plain intention to extinguish native title. The laws creating pastoral leases in Queensland did not reveal an intention to extinguish native title. The Court found that Queensland pastoral leases had been created to meet the needs of the emerging pastoral industry. The leases in question did not give the leaseholders a right to exclusive possession of the land. The granting of a pastoral lease did not necessarily extinguish native title. Native title could co-exist with the rights of the leaseholder.
