A judge has upheld most of a native title claim relating to two thirds of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

The Barngarla claim, which includes land and waters covering an area of about 44,480 square kilometres, was filed in April 1996.

Justice John Mansfield on Thursday upheld the claim, but excluded the Port Augusta township area, the Spencer Gulf Islands and an area to the south of Port Lincoln.

The Federal Court judge said he was satisfied that each of the claimed native title rights prima facie existed.

But the issue of whether those rights have been subsequently extinguished is a question to be determined in a subsequent hearing, he said.

The claim, which is roughly triangular in shape, extends from Port Lincoln and its coastal waters in the south just north of Port Augusta.

Its western boundary is the Eyre Highway to just outside Ceduna and to the east to include the coastline and waters of the Spencer Gulf.

Major townships in the original claim include Port Lincoln, Port Augusta and Whyalla.

Parties involved in the claim include the commonwealth, commercial fishers, mining companies and pastoralists.

MORE TO COME…