The Border Mail contacted Gabrielle Williams after North East MPs Bill Tilley and Tim McCurdy said they planned to speak to her about removing the signs which have been erected along the Hume Freeway, Great Alpine Road and Murray Valley Highway.

She did not answer queries about whether she would consider their removal or her role in their installation.

Instead, a government spokesperson said the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council, which is at "arm's length from government" decided registered Indigenous parties in the state.

That means Yorta Yorta is the registered party for an area from Chiltern west to Cohuna and south from the Murray River to a line from Violet Town to Everton.

Bangerang Aboriginal Corporation members and cousins Darren and Vicki Atkinson yesterday met Mr Tilley and showed him 19^th century survey maps showing their clan's presence in the North East.

Mr Tilley said he wanted the signs removed and to have "a full and proper recognition of the Bpangerang people and their connection to country".

"Don't be stubborn, don't be pig-headed bring them down," he said.

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It's not the first time the signs have been erected and drawn criticism.

In 2017, VicRoads removed three near identical signs within five days of them being erected with then North East regional manager Nicki Kyriakou saying "they were mistakenly installed outside the boundary for which the Yorta Yorta Nation's Aboriginal Corporation is the appointed Registered Aboriginal Party".

Mr Atkinson said his people fought for the signs removal then and thinks that should also occur now.

"Yorta Yorta are only a registered Aboriginal party they don't have no land rights, they were not deemed the traditional owners," he said.

"Having them signs erected is just another attempt to deny us as being the traditional owners of the country."

Mr Tilley said: "In 2017 VicRoads were forced into an embarrassing backflip when they also failed to talk to the Bpangerang people.

"We're supposed to learn from our mistakes and yet here we are again with exactly the same sign, same issue and what should be another backdown."

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