Rights Act is a fundamental piece of social reform. It established the legal basis on which Aboriginal people could claim rights to land based on customary or traditional occupation, also known as native title, if evidence could be shown. (The South Australian Pitjantjatjara Lands Act 1956 had granted land to the Pitjantjatjara people, but as a one-off, did not provide a basis for future claims by others.) Description The main purpose of the Act is "to reinstate ownership of traditional Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory to Aboriginal people" (Austrade). It provides for the grant of inalienable freehold title for Aboriginal land, meaning that the land cannot be bought or otherwise acquired, including by any NT law. In the original Act, only claims to unalienated Crown land in the NT were permissible, under three district sections, and the Act specified an end date of June 1997 by which claims had to be lodged. The Act allows for a claim of Australian native title if claimants can provide evidence of their traditional association with land. About 50% of the Northern Territory land and 85% of its coastline are owned communally by Aboriginal peoples. Since 1976, many amendments to the Act have been passed. , the most recent compilation (No. 41) came into force on 4 April 2019. , the major sections of the Act are: Part I—Preliminary Part II—Grants of land to Aboriginal Land Trusts Part IIA—Executive Director of Township Leasing Part III—Aboriginal Land Councils Part IV—Mining Part V—Aboriginal Land Commissioners Part VI—Aboriginals Benefit Account Part VII—Miscellaneous Schedules 1–7 Part II: Aboriginal Land Trusts Aboriginal Land Trusts are established under the Act. Their main functions are: to hold title to land vested in it in accordance with this Act; and to exercise its powers as owner of land for the benefit of the Aboriginal people concerned. Title to the land granted under the Act is held by these land trusts; , there are 151 Aboriginal land trusts, each administered by the a land council, dependent on location of the trust. Part III: Land Councils The Act specified that at least two Land Councils must be created. The Central Land Council, covering the southern part of the NT, and the Northern Land Council, covering the northern part of the NT, were created by the Act. The Tiwi Land Council, covering Bathurst and Melville Islands north of Darwin, and the Anindilyakwa Land Council,