National parks covering almost 10 per cent of NSW could have their title transferred to Aboriginal owners in coming decades as one controversial park is renamed.
Consultation is underway for a joint management model that could transfer lands from NSW national parks to Aboriginal owners over a period of up to 20 years.
About 30 per cent of the estate is jointly managed already, with Aboriginal ownership extending to about four per cent.
It comes as a national park in the South Coast region is renamed, with new signs being installed at Beowa National Park near Eden on Friday.
"The Aboriginal community in this area called for us to rename Ben Boyd National Park because of Boyd's shocking legacy of blackbirding," Environment Minister James Griffin said, referring to the luring, tricking and taking of people from island nations in the Pacific to work in Australia.
Their descendants, Australian South Sea Islanders, were first recognised as a distinct cultural group by federal government in 1994.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has reported as many as 62,500 people were brought to Australia between 1863 and 1904 to work on sugarcane and cotton farms in Queensland and northern NSW.
Historian Mark Dunn completed an analysis and evaluation of Boyd's involvement in blackbirding for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife service in May last year.
Boyd immigrated from Scotland in 1842, already wealthy, with the "clear purpose of building a business and pastoral empire and taking advantage of opportunities provided by his connections and his directorship of the Royal Bank of Australia, which he had established, to achieve his goals," Dr Dunn reported.
Within four years he was one of biggest landholders outside of the Crown.
By 1847, he was sending ships to Vanuatu and New Caledonia, bringing 192 men and women to NSW to work on his estates.
Dr Dunn noted Boyd's actions were "controversial at the time and viewed as a form of slavery by many of his contemporary critics".
His methods were coercive, and one voyage included the bombarding of island villages that killed numerous people, Dr Dunn said.
Boyd died on the Solomon Islands in 1851.
He was also involved in whaling, and the new name of the national park is Thaua language for "orca" - commonly called the killer whale.
A pod of orcas were known for assisting whalers near Eden in the 19th century and are considered a totemic animal by some Indigenous people.
"Traditionally, killer whales were our ancestors. When our ancestors died their spirits went into the whales, they are like family," Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council chairman BJ Cruse said.
Mr Griffin said the renaming is another significant step towards reconciliation.
"Through an extensive consultation process with more than 60 representatives from the Aboriginal and South Sea Islander community, we listened and learned, and a new, culturally-appropriate name for this magnificent national park was chosen," Mr Griffin said.
Faye Campbell was one Aboriginal representative involved in the consultation process.
"My ancestor Budgenbro used to communicate with the killer whales and there are a lot of stories to share, now we can," she said.
Ben Boyd's name remains on a Neutral Bay road after North Sydney Council opted not to change it, following a survey showing about 54 per cent of residents supported it staying last year.
Boyd house at Neutral Bay Primary School was renamed Waratah.
