The Wuthathi people have regained legal ownership of their north Queensland homeland, the site of historic battles involving conservationists and pro-development governments, more than a century after their dispossession by colonial occupiers.

The traditional owners accepted the title deeds for 118,000 hectares of Cape York land, including the white sands of Shelburne Bay, from the Queensland treasurer, Curtis Pitt, at a ceremony in Lockhart River on Thursday.

The landmark handover followed 20 years of negotiation with the Queensland government and decades more of fighting plans to exploit the region for cattle grazing and sand mining.

The Wuthathi’s resistance to that exploitation – which included a plan backed by the Bjelke-Petersen government to mine the unspoiled Shelburne dunes for sand to export to Japan – saw them campaign alongside environmental groups such as the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Wilderness Society.

The Wuthathi will give over about a third of the land for new national parks they will run with the state, hoping for jobs and economic benefits through tourism and conservation management.

Traditional owners described the handover of 118,000 hectares of Cape York land as a day of ‘great happiness’ that raised hopes ‘the young ones get jobs on country’. Photograph: Kerry Trapnell

Johnson Chippendale, chairman of the Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation, said the circle was now “fully complete” after his ancestors were removed from their country four generations ago. “Our people were some of the best conservationists in the world,” he said.

“We have eight seasons in one year. Our people had the knowledge to hunt and gather from different areas, and they knew exactly what time and what place we should be going to collect.”

Traditional owner Phil Wallis said Wuthathi country, with its sandy white dunes, rainforests, wetlands and lakes no longer found elsewhere in Australia, was “a magical place”.

“This country is unspoiled, untouched, there’s a lot of sacred sites and story places that the younger generation needs to learn and carry on those practices – whether it be gathering food, medicine, teaching those kids about the story places and why they are important to us, and managing the area as a whole,” he said.

Jean Mosby, another traditional owner, said the long-awaited handover day was one of “great happiness” that raised hopes “the young ones get jobs on country”.

Alison Peggy Bender-Warren said that on first seeing the white sandy dunes of her ancestral homeland from a plane this year, “I thought it was snow, but it was all sand”. “It’s so white, it’s beautiful.”

‘I thought it was snow, but it was all sand’: Wuthathi traditional owners have agreed to make a third of the land returned to them protected national park. Photograph: Kerry Trapnell

Pitt said a “breathtaking landscape” had been “returned to its rightful owners”. “This is a defining moment in Queensland’s history, culture and conservation — there are few other places like this in Australia,” he said.

“A chapter is closing and another opening for these traditional owners to explore economic and sustainable enterprise with confidence, whether it be passing on knowledge to their people or sharing their culture with the world.”

ACF northern Australia project officer Andrew Picone said the new Wuthathi national park at Shelburne Bay made up the last undisturbed landscape of its type in Australia and was “of international significance”.

“The return of land to the Wuthathi people is the best way to protect this area’s natural and cultural heritage,” Picone said.

He said ACF, which first proposed a national park at Shelburne Bay in 1976, “congratulates the Wuthathi people on this historic day that sees the return of their homelands and thanks them for the creation of Australia’s newest national park”.

Lyndon Schneiders, national director of the Wilderness Society, said it had been “an honour” to work with the Wuthathi, “a determined people who have fought long and hard to protect and get back their ancestral lands”.

This especially included “helping to protect the spectacular snow-white sand dunes from repeated attempts by government and business to sand mine them”.

Much of the Shelburne Bay region was turned into cattle properties in the early 1960s, in what Shneiders said was “an ill-considered decision by the Queensland government to open up north-eastern Cape York as a beef-producing region”.

Scheiders said the mid-1980s saw the Bjelke-Petersen government back “another stupid proposal” by issuing sand-mining leases to a consortium including Japanese importers. But this was scotched by the Hawke federal government using its foreign investment powers after a national campaign by the Wuthathi in alliance with conservation groups.

The Wuthathi succeeded in their native title land claim last year, 18 years after first lodging their application.

Their land is home to more than 30 rare and threatened species, including the southern cassowary and the palm cockatoo.

The Queensland government has a policy of trying to secure half of all land handed back to traditional owners for national park but agreed to a third in the case of the Wuthathi.

The traditional owners had raised concerns about some of the impacts from the scale of tourism and visitation and wanted to ensure independence from government agencies.

With three national parks created by the Wuthathi, there are now a total of 26 Aboriginal-owned and jointly-managed national parks over more than 2m hectares in Cape York.

The Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation are looking to begin talks with possible partners in tourism, social programs and environmental management.

They will need investment in basic infrastructure to support land and sea management and research, and temporary accommodation.