Canberra's Ngunnawal traditional owners have labelled the ACT government's recent apology to the Ngambri people as an "affront" to their custodianship.
The backlash was in response to the government conceding the Ngambri people had suffered "hurt and distress" as a result of being omitted from the ACT Indigenous protocol.
For the past two decades, the ACT government had formally identified only the Ngunnawal people as Canberra's traditional owners.
That prompted two Ngambri leaders to take the government to court claiming their human rights had been breached.
The parties reached a settlement last week.
Today Ngunnawal man Richie Allan said the government's concession was"disappointing" but it meant his people were now more emboldened in their position.
"We are the traditional custodians of this area," Mr Allan said.
"We've proven it both culturally and through the western system with genealogy [testing].
"A lot of people have a little bit of connection to this land but they don't belong to this land, [only] Ngunnawal people do.
"And we owe it to our ancestors to stand up for the Ngunnawal people."
Mr Allan said he believed the ACT government's decision to apologise and to reach settlement with the Ngambri people had added to the trauma they had experienced as First Nations people.
'An affront to the traditional custodianship of our lands'
The Ngunnawal group, including Mr Allan, said it expects to meet with the government to discuss the issue.
It released a statement on Wednesday that began with the words:
"Dhawura nguna, dhawura Ngunnawal — this country is Ngunnawal country."
"Recent events are an affront to the traditional custodianship of our lands," the statement said.
"It is our understanding that human rights legislation is there to protect and promote the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples, not to assert rights to the custodianship of other peoples' country.
"As proud Ngunnawal traditional custodians, we reaffirm and reassert our cultural authority as custodians of the lands and waterways we call Ngunnawal, which has existed for tens of thousands of years."
They invited anyone who sought to be recognised as traditional custodians of the ACT to provide evidence.
"[But] this discussion must move beyond just one or two family groups asserting their rights to our lands.
"This discussion needs to be grounded in facts and underpinned by respect."
Potential for competing native title claims
Last week, Ngambri man Paul Girrawah House said it was a welcome feeling to be recognised by the government.
"Our people have worked hard all our lives for acknowledgement on country, based on our oral histories and historical records," he said.
He was one of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case and alluded to a possible native title claim.
The ACT government has promised to review its policies and has put in place an interim Indigenous protocol.
It said it would continue to acknowledge the "Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT while also recognising any other people or families with connection to the ACT and region".
