WAFarmers has already begun the process of engaging a barrister to provide legal advice on whether Aboriginal cultural heritage is extinguished on freehold land.
The confirmation comes only a few days after WAFarmers' first announced that it planned to raise $30,000 to cover legal costs to investigate the potential effect, if any, of freehold title on the State's new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Act.
The group's chief executive, Trevor Whittington, confirmed WAFarmers had engaged Bailiwick Legal to provide a brief and recruit a barrister to provide legal advice on the issue.
While only a small amount of donations have been received towards the legal challenge so far, Mr Whittington said WAFarmers were committed to the cause and had already allocated $25,000 towards the matter.
"We will be contributing on behalf of our members and we are hoping to receive donations from non-members too," Mr Whittington said.
"We are also talking to some of the bigger corporate players, who don't want to be named, to see whether they might be able to kick in some money.
"We have set ourselves a few months to try and raise the funds, but in the meantime we decided that we would kick things off."
On Monday a fired up crowd of more than 600 people packed into the Katanning Leisure Centre for a WAFarmers meeting focused on Federal Labor's proposal to ban the live sheep trade and the State government's ACH Act, which are causing much anxiety amongst the State's farmers.
At the meeting, the audience unanimously voted in favour of WAFarmers motion for the State government to amend the Act to recognise that freehold rights override heritage.
At the time of writing, WAFarmers along with the Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) of WA and the WA Grains Group (WAGG) were in the process of drafting a letter to Premier Roger Cook and the State's Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti, requesting that several changes be made to the ACH Act.
In the draft letter, which was supplied to Farm Weekly, the groups call for "the legal status of the ACH Act to be clarified as to its power to override private property rights by the States Solicitors Office and, if needed, tested through the courts".
However if, subject to the ACH Act, freehold property rights are overridden, the groups have proposed that the State fund a comprehensive heritage survey across the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South West farming estate region "to identify and map those physical sites of significant aboriginal cultural heritage that exists on undisturbed freehold farm land".
Mr Whittington believed this survey could be completed in under three years and at a cost of about $40 million.
The draft letter also calls for exemptions to be made for freehold farmland which has been "disturbed, developed or cultivated" for many years, as well as compensation for freehold property owners where there is the potential for Aboriginal cultural heritage sites to impact on their land values.
The groups are also calling for there to be a cap of $1000-$2000 imposed on the cost of heritage surveys.
Following the 'Let farmers keep farming' meeting earlier this week, the State Opposition and Nationals WA Party leader Shane Love invited WAFarmers and other industry delegates to attend State Parliament on Tuesday, August 8, to put forward the motions which were carried on the ACH Act as well as present the farming group's letter to the State government.
About 70 people also attended a recent meeting held by the recently re-emerged WA Rural Action Movement on live export and the ACH Act at the Esperance Civic Centre.
