But the idyll faces upheaval next week when the descendants of the Aborigines who first settled the exclusive enclave are expected to initiate a legal claim on the land.

Residents fear that the Aborigines will be granted traditional rights to hunt and gather food, light fires and hold night-long ceremonial dances in their lush gardens and prized beaches.

All the more troubling for the good people of Smirnoff Place is that the Aborigines are expected to win traditional rights of access and use of the land — or at least financial compensation of about A$100 million (£40 million).

Iris and Geoff Peter are among those who have retired to Broome, and they have invested their savings in a A$720,000 (£288,000) home on Smirnoff Place. Mrs Peter, who fears that the property will be taken from them, said: “I wouldn’t like it at all, having someone camping on our lawn.”

“This is not a hunting ground,” Fran Wilson, another resident, told The Australian newspaper. Her husband, Martin Wilson, said: “There will be a hell of an uproar if they try to set my lawn on fire.”

The source of the residents’ anxiety is their belated discovery that the local Yawuru Aboriginal people, who have lived along the northwestern coast of Australia for centuries, have a right of native title over the 140 blocks of the most desirable land in Broome. Under the High Court’s historic Mabo decision of 1992, Aborigines were recognised as the first inhabitants of Australia and were granted the right to seek access to lands over which they could demonstrate a strong historical connection.

There is no doubt that the Yawuru can show such a connection with Smirnoff Place, which the West Australian government has known since 2003. But it chose to keep that knowledge secret, for fear of alarming residents, while it began closed-door negotiations with Aboriginal leaders.

A little-known High Court decision had negated the laws under which the properties were first released for private sale in 1994 and had confirmed the rights of Aborigines to seek title to the land. But nobody told the new owners.

Justice Ron Merkel, while ruling on another case under a marquee on the beach at Broome, said that he reckoned the West Australian government would have to pay compensation to the Yawuru Aboriginal people to cancel their title to the properties. Such a payout could be as much as $A100 million and would make wealthy the 2,500 remaining Yawuru Aborigines, many of whom live in poverty.

Aboriginal people make up about 35 per cent of the population of Broome. Although relations with whites have generally been harmonious in recent years, Aboriginal anger over the Western Australian government’s delays in settling their claims and white frustration have set back goodwill, according to Graeme Campbell, the President of the Shire of Broome.

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