While the relationship of indigenous people with their traditional
home land is «primarily a spiritual
affair» or as Blackburn J. described it in Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971) 17 FLR at 167, a «religious relationship», the
common law applies to protect only the physical enjoyment of rights and interests that are of a kind that can be exercised on the land, and does not protect purely religious or spiritual relationships with land.