Ross Rolfe recalls how in the 1980s the federal department had been involved in obtaining secure land title for Aboriginal people who had lived on reserves and Town and Country Reserves. Johnny Koowarta had successfuly taken the Queensland government to the High Court over the pastoral lease at Archer Bend, which in response was turned into the Archer Bend National Park (now Mungkan Kanju National Park). The Commonwealth then purchased an adjacent pastoral property in Cape York called Meripah Station which became the first pastoral lease transferred to Aboriginal people.