The Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 is the short title of an Act of the Parliament of South Australia, assented to on 8 December 1966, with the long title "An Act to establish an Aboriginal Lands Trust, to define the powers and functions thereof, for purposes incidental thereto and for other purposes".
[1] This Bill was introduced by Don Dunstan, who was then South Australia's Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and who later became Premier.
This Act signified the first major recognition of Aboriginal land rights by any Australian government.
It also marked a return to promises made in the Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia in 1836, by establishing a land trust which would hold the title to and assume management of all the existing Aboriginal reserves in South Australia, for the benefit of the Aboriginal people.
[2] The Act established the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust.