Our history

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this page may contain images and names of deceased persons.

Gumala Investments Pty Ltd (GIPL), the Gumala Trust, was established in 1997 to act as the Trustee of the General Gumala Foundation (GGF) on behalf of the Traditional Owners of the Banjima, Nyiyaparli and Yinhawangka people.

We’ve had around 40 Directors since the GIPL Board was first established and achieved many outcomes on behalf of our Beneficiaries.

GGF and Native Title

The YLUA involved the Native Title claimants of land covered by Hamersley Iron’s Yandicoogina iron ore project. It provides for all mining and infrastructure (miscellaneous) titles for the life of the project and for exploration over the whole claim area.

The agreement was the first major land-use agreement to be concluded after the 1992 Mabo decision and took over twelve months to complete. No native title claim had been made when negotiations started and it was only after the three language groups had come together in discussions with Hamersley Iron that they decided after some 12 months of discussion, to join, to make a claim and negotiate as one group. Negotiations were initially outside the scope of the Native Title Act, but once an agreement between the Indigenous and mining parties was reached, ‘it was necessary to provide Hamersley with the legislative certainty that is required for the project.’

As the agreement predated the 1998 Native Title Act amendments, it could not be registered as an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA). Clive Senior, who was employed as a mediator in the negotiations, documented the process of negotiating the agreement. This document, emphasising the need for attention to the process of commencing and undertaking negotiations, is recommended for the industry as an important case study, and provides much useful information on processes for commencing effective negotiations on major projects.