The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981 (APYLRA or APY Land Rights Act) grants certain land and other rights to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people) in South Australia. It began its life as the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act and commenced operation on 2 October 1981. Its long name title is "An Act to provide for the vesting of title to certain lands in the people known as Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara; and for other purposes". The Act has since had several amendments, the latest in 2017. History In 1976, the Pitjantjatjara Council ("Pit Council") was formed to lobby for freehold title to their reserve land, which, since the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 had been vested in the Minister for Community Welfare. Premier Don Dunstan established a Parliamentary Committee to investigate the feasibility of a separate lands trust to cover the North-West Reserve. The Pit Council wanted title to be vested in a new entity of which all Pitjantjatjara people would be members. They wanted something more than the communal title arrangements which had been granted by the Fraser Government under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 (NT). Negotiations became drawn out, with the change of government from the Dunstan government to the Liberal government under David Tonkin after the 1979 state election. After the government proposed major changes to the legislation, over 100 Pitjantjatjara people camped at Victoria Park Racecourse in February 1980 in protest. In October 1980, the Tonkin government introduced an amended bill after a long period of negotiations, in which Premier Tonkin took a leading and personal role. The new bill finally passed through both Houses in March 1981, as the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981 (SA), later renamed as the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjarra Land Rights Act 1981 (SA) (APYLRA). Symbolically, the Act came into force on 2 October 1981, the one-year anniversary of the date when Premier David Tonkin and the Chairman of the Pitjantjatjara Council, Mr Kawaki Thompson, signed their agreement to the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill. The new law was enacted to acknowledge Anangu ownership of the land; to establish the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Management (APY) as a body corporate; and to "provide for efficient and accountable administration and management of lands by Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjarra". However it did not give the people the power of veto over mining activities; any disputes would need to be resolved by