A giant parcel of land on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula has been handed back to traditional owners.

National park and Aboriginal freehold land has been returned to three local Indigenous groups after decades of campaigning.

“Today is a very historic day, many, many years in the making,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said from the small coastal town of Injinoo this week. 

The land includes the Jardine River National Park, Denham Group National Park, part of Heathlands Reserve and Jardine River Reserve, and two offshore islands, and will be jointly managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Gudang Yadhaykenu, Atambaya and Angkamuthi (Seven Rivers) peoples.

“The journey for today has been a long struggle from way back when we were younger,” Angkamuthi woman Sandra Woosup said at the ceremony.

“It's really a blessing for us today - to see this finally come to us, giving us our land back.

“It's better our way than anyone else coming and telling us what to do on our country.”

The deal will also see the Jardine River National Park be renamed Apudthama National Park, which means ‘together’. 

Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon says the agreement is the culmination of years of land negotiations.

“This program is fundamentally about land justice, about righting some of the wrongs of the past,” Ms Scanlon said.

“Our First Nations people were the traditional custodians of this land for thousands and thousands of years - they've cared for country and they rightfully are the best people to work with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to manage these really important ecosystems.”

The state government says it has now returned a total of over 4.3 million hectares of land to traditional owners on Cape York. 

Gudang Yadhaykenu man Nicholas Thompson Wymarra said traditional owners now have the chance to revive their Dreaming.

“Our identity and who we are has been lost for many decades due to the past dark history that has happened here throughout our Cape York region,” he said.

“There's definitely going to be a brighter future for our kids, our grandkids, our great-great-grandkids.

“It's such a wonderful feeling - I'm feeling on top of the world.”