The protest on November 3 was an Aboriginal land rights demonstration that started in Hyde Park and moved to Macquarie Street.

Leeton and District representatives at the march were chairman David Watts, board members Warren Ingram and Faith Kennedy, administration support officer Courtney Davy and members Geraldine Higgins, Karen Ingram and Brodie Davy.

They were protesting changes to the Crown Lands Amendment Bill 2014.

Last month the NSW Minister for Natural Resources, Lands and Water, Kevin Humphries, introduced the Crown Lands Amendment (Public Ownership of Beaches and Coastal Lands) Bill 2014 into the Legislative Assembly.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council believed the bill had been introduced without consultation and undermined the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, limiting the ability of Aboriginal Land Councils to make claims to certain Crown Lands.

There was a concern thousands of land claims would be retrospectively extinguished.

The proposed legislation followed a successful land claim in the Land and Environment Court late last year over a 3.7km stretch of beach near Coffs Harbour.

In response, Mr Humphries said the state government would "amend the Crown Lands Act 1989 to ensure beaches and key beach facilities remain public and cannot be transferred or sold off to private interests".

Labor, the Greens and the Christian Democrats made it clear the amendment would not pass the Upper House.

Coffs Harbour Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive officer Chris Spence said there was never any chance public access to the beach would be prevented.

"What people do not know about that court ruling in the Land and Environment Court was there was specific legislation or court ruling that said we had to provide easements for public access to that particular beach," he said.