"In general mineral rights in Australia are reserved to the Crown"
https://www.austrade.gov.au/land-tenure/Land-tenure/mining-a...
Which seems as complex as you might expect for something based on similar UK laws:
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsUK/planning/legislation/mineral...
NB I've thought for a while that land 'ownership' is a slightly odd concept - not helped by being in Scotland where land ownership has had over a thousand years to get in a nice mess.