Native title holders in the Gulf country near the Northern Territory-Queensland border have welcomed a legal decision allowing them to take and use resources from the land for commercial purposes.

Key points: First time native title rights of this kind recognised in the NT

First time native title rights of this kind recognised in the NT Yanyuwa transactions with Macassan people described as being of a commercial kind

Yanyuwa transactions with Macassan people described as being of a commercial kind Decision recognised long-distance exchange routes criss-crossed continent prior to British settlement

The Federal Court decision handed down last week is the first time native title rights of this kind have been recognised in the Northern Territory.

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During the case, the claimants provided evidence they were trading with people in Sulawesi, prior to British settlement.

Joe Morrison, CEO of the Northern Land Council, which ran the case on behalf of the native title claimants, said it meant that for the first time in the Northern Territory the Federal Court recognised the "commercial right to trade within our native title decision".

"That, I guess, is good news as we've seen the precedence in Western Australia and Queensland, and it's good that the Northern Territory has now joined that," he said.

The decision gives native title holders exclusive possession over areas of vacant crown land in the town of Borroloola in the Gulf country about south-east of Darwin.

Mr Morrison said in his findings the judge had recognised the history of trade between the Yanyuwa people in the region and the visiting Macassan people from the south-east corner of Sulawesi prior to British settlement.

"He's come up with a decision that is very fitting in recognising the longstanding history and traditions of the Yanyuwa people, and in particular their commercial trades with Macassans that visited the gulf country for many years prior to the arrival of the British."

Questions over whether trade was commercial

Key issues in the case included the question of whether that trade with the Macassan people was of a commercial nature or for only communal and subsistence purposes.

Another issue was whether the Yanyuwa people dealt with the Macassans according to their traditional customs.

The judge heard evidence of Macassan people travelling to northern Australia to capture trepang — a term for sea cucumbers.

Graham Friday, a native title claimant, gave evidence during the case.

He said growing up in Borroloola he heard stories from his forebears and how they "used to help Macassans collect trepang and how they used to trade them for tobacco and or steel axes".

Anthropologist Jeff Stead also gave evidence that Macassan people came to northern Australia to trade with Aboriginal people well before 1780.

"Historical evidence suggests the Macassans were very interested in collecting and processing trepang, which was a highly regarded in China," he said.

"So they would take trepang, sometimes timber, some minerals and in return Aboriginals obtained, tobacco, foodstuffs, glass bottles, iron and steel materials and above all at the end they received the dugout canoes."

Decision will create economic opportunities

In his decision Justice Mansfield wrote that prior to British settlement, long distance exchange routes criss-crossed the continent.

He found the Yanyuwa transactions with the Macassan people were sensibly described as transactions of a commercial kind.

He also found the Aboriginal people in the area may have drawn on traditional laws and customs to engage with the Macassans.

Mr Morrison said it was a long-awaited recognition of history that would help Indigenous people today create economic opportunities in the future.

"Native title in the past hasn't recognised and treated Aboriginal people as part of the economic and commercial future," he said.

"And I think these kinds of outcomes allow Aboriginal people to then start pushing that agenda a lot more than what has happened in the past."

The Northern Territory and Federal governments opposed the claim at Borroloola.

Mr Morrison has urged governments to take a different tack with any similar claims in the future.

The ABC's World Today program contacted the Northern Territory Government, but has not received a response.