Wiradjuri Nation to Charge Compensation to Mining Interests, Explains Paul Towney

Proud Wiradjuri descendant Paul Towney earlier this year commenced his campaign to raise awareness about a 2024 Federal Court of Australia ruling that found native title rights had not been extinguished in respect of land grants issued in the early 1820s. Towney began by occupying a parcel of Wiradjuri land at Charles Sturt University, yet he’s now progressed to issuing stop work notices.

The 2024 Federal Court case, Dungog Shire Council versus Attorney General of NSW saw Dungog claiming ownership over a sport grounds in the Hunter Valley town of Paterson, after its owner died without an heir. However, the NSW government proved it was Crown land, because the original land grant was void, meaning Wonnarua Nation native title rights were never extinguished.

The reason the land grant was illegal is that British monarch King George IV gave written permission to then NSW governor Thomas Brisbane to issue land grants to European settlers of no more than 200 acres. However, Brisbane went to town granting numerous parcels of much larger land. These grants were given out between 1820 and 1825.

After learning of the court finding, Towney attended Gosford Library, where he was able to locate all the original land grants and make copies of them. The grants cover Wiradjuri, Wonnarua, Worimi and Yuin lands. And following this, Towney occupied a 2,000 acre parcel of Wiradjuri land covered by an illegal grant, which is said to belong to Charles Sturt University in Orange.

After being arrested on 2 February 2025, Towney faced Orange Local Court in September on a count of trespass. NSW Magistrate Jeff Tunks found against him but didn’t record a charge. Following the outcome, Towney has raised the issue with the Federal Court and the federal government, and he’s about to start issuing stop work notices to projects operating on land covered by fraudulent grants.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Wiradjuri man Paul Towney about the stop work process, as well as how far his campaign to expose that much of the NSW state is covered by dodgy land grants has developed, and further, he explained what will occur if the companies now operating on Wiradjuri land, don’t adequately address the claims involved in the soon-to-be applied stop work notices.

Paul, this week, you will be serving stop work notices against Crown land projects underway within the borders of Wiradjuri Nation sovereign country.

These stop work notices are being issued under section 18 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth).

What are the circumstances that have led you to be issuing these notices? Who are you issuing them to?

Basically, they are going to be served on the big mining interests that are right across Wiradjuri Nation sovereign lands.

I will also be issuing stop work notices to renewable energy projects after Christmas, as well as what could be Australia’s first waste incinerator, which is a project that is going to be at Parkes.

These notifications are on behalf of Wiradjuri Nation sovereignty, as being the rightful landlord, which has been acknowledged by the Federal Court.

I have contacted those mining interests and the parties interested in the incinerator, as well as local government shire councils.

I have asked for a sit-down meeting with myself and with my local Wiradjuri Nation grassroots families and elders, in order to talk about rightful compensation being charged by the rightful landlords.

Our sovereignty has always been. It was never ceded. It was never extinguished, and this was found by the Federal Court of Australia last year.

Have you received feedback from the companies that you will be serving these stop work notices upon? 

Yes. Most of it has been negative. They said they don’t recognise me or Wiradjuri as rightful landlords or landowners. That is the reason why I gave them a courtesy call. I did not demand anything.

I told them we are the landlords, and we are asking to sit down with them and work out a system that is right economically, as it will benefit grassroots Wiradjuri families.

You have been in contact with the Federal Court and the federal government about the fraudulent land grant matter since September this year.

Recently, you’ve been in contact with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and specifically you have been in contact with the section of the department that focuses on Aboriginal heritage protection.

How has the federal government been considering the matter?

They’ve approved it. They acknowledge and respect Wiradjuri grassroots sovereignty and governance, as we are the rightful landlords.

They are acting on our behalf in applying these stop work notices, to be given out to various mining interests and the Parkes incinerator project.

There will be new stop work notices served to all the major renewable energy Crown lease projects in the new year.

So, the department is supporting the stop work notices? 

Yes, the federal government department, the DCCEEW heritage division.

What does that mean? 

It means that because of the precedent in the Federal Court case, native title, First Nations sovereignty, has never been extinguished or ceded to the Crown, and that’s what I am applying here.

I am applying Wiradjuri Nations sovereign lore, as it has never been corrupted. It has been illegal Crown grants that were applied. These were the original land grants in Australia and most of them are illegal.

You mention the need for mining interests to sit down and discuss compensation with grassroots Wiradjuri people. So, how have grassroots Wiradjuri people been reacting to your campaign since it began early this year? 

It is growing. I can’t stop it now. That is the whole thing of it. I have simply been following Windradyne, Wiradjuri’s greatest war hero, who has been acknowledged by the Crown.

Windradyne fought and died, and so did all my Wiradjuri ancestors, including women and children. They did not cede our Wiradjuri sovereignty to the Crown up until this day. This is all documented.

War and martial law were declared on the Wiradjuri Nation in August 1824. This was declared by governor Brisbane, who is the same corrupt governor, who acted without the written consent of King George and gave out all these illegal land grants of over 200 acres.

This is all there in writing, his acting corrupt.

These were the first original land grants given out in Australia. This was before Australia was made up of states and territories. It was just a colony then.

These grants were shown to be illegal by the Federal Court last year, and I’m only acting on the findings of the Federal Court.

You state that the Wiradjuri Nation was the first sovereign nation that the British attacked after moving out of the Sydney Basin. You explain that the British illegally declared martial law and war upon your people, and this declaration still stands.

So, why is this important?

The Federal Court found that all the land grants that governor Brisbane issued continue to be illegal to this day.

Wiradjuri is the only nation in Australia to have had war and marital law declared on it. This declaration makes a laughing stock of the idea that Australia was founded on terra nullius: that there was no one here.

The declaration of war and martial law is in writing, and it makes a farce of terra nullius, when the colonial Crown of Australia has declared war on a nation, the Wiradjuri Nation.

Last February, you occupied a parcel of Wiradjuri land said to be part of Charles Sturt University in Orange, because you have the land grant showing that it was issued illegally.

This was based on the outcome of the 2024 Federal Court case Dungog Shire Council versus Attorney General of NSW, which found that a parcel of land today is still Crown land because it was illegally granted by NSW governor Thomas Brisbane.

The issue right now is that the precedent has been set by the courts, but not all government institutions have acknowledged this.

So, how has this situation developed over the last 10 months in terms of official government institutions recognising the fraudulent land grants?

The campaign has grown. How the federal, NSW state level and local government Crowns could not know or can claim ignorance in relation to the Federal Court case of last year is beyond me.

Dungog Shire local government took on the NSW government and the attorney general and lost. It was found that a 2,000 acre property had been granted illegally by governor Brisbane in 1823. This grant had not been approved in writing by King George.

The land that I got arrested on was a property of 2,000 acres. Again, it was signed by governor Brisbane in the year 1823. It was signed the same month as the Dungog property he signed off on.

I’ve got land grants probably covering 500,000 acres given out by governor Brisbane from 1820 to 1825 in an illegal manner. This was on Wiradjuri land, but it is also on other lands.

I am following the precedent set by the Federal Court case, and then I’m claiming back the land that was given out by governor Brisbane in 1823.

You seem to be saying that this native title outcome that was handed down last year is likely understood by a lot of the departments and institutions that continue to claim they’re unaware of it? 

Yes. That includes the three colonial governments of Australia: the federal, state and local governments. They are all claiming ignorance in relation to this court decision.

I find it so strange that they are playing a game of ignorance over this native title case that found sovereignty of First Nations has never been ceded or extinguished on all these lands covered by these grants.

When I’ve confronted mining interests, renewable interests or any Crown-leased construction projects, they claim they don’t know.

Of all these billion dollar and trillion dollar economic developments that are currently underway and have been running on Wiradjuri lands since the illegal land grants were given out more than 230 years ago, none of the economic profits made have benefited the landlords or the Wiradjuri sovereign grassroots people.

The difference between grassroots Wiradjuri and Aboriginal land councils and Traditional Owners organisations claiming to be Wiradjuri is simple, they are approved, acknowledge and funded by the Crown, so their allegiances are to the Crown colonial government of Australia.

There allegiances are not to my local Wiradjuri grassroots families and our elders. They have signed a land agreement to abide by Crown.

That is the difference between Wiradjuri sovereign grassroots governance and Aboriginal land council and TO organisations.

And lastly, Paul, we are at the end of the first year of your campaign in respect of the illegal land grants, and it has come along way in just that year.

So, as we move towards 2026, what are you expecting to happen with this stop work process?

I have spoken with the bosses and asked them to sit down and talk with the local elders and families, and they told me to fuck off. So, now, they’re getting these emergency 48 hour stop work notices.

Imagine that? They will think, we should have had a talk with them. Now, if they don’t have a meeting with us in the new year after Christmas, then I will get section 10 long-term stop work notices issued.

If they do not come to the table and sit down with me and local grassroots Wiradjuri elders and families, then heritage will be serving them with section 10 long-term stop works until they do sit down with the rightful landlords and we start talking compensation on our terms.