Five Australians have appeared in an Indonesian court charged with breaching the country's territorian sovereignty by entering its troubled Papua province without permission.
Pilot William Scott-Bloxam is accused of landing his plane in the Papuan town of Merauke without permission on September 12 this year.

He and four others -his wife and co-pilot Vera Scott-Bloxam, and passengers, Keith Mortimer, Hubert Hofer and Karen Burke -were arrested at the airport.

They had travelled from Horn Island, off the tip of Queensland's Cape York, on what they described as a sightseeing flight and believing they could get visas on arrival.

All were charged with breaching immigration and flight laws, while Scott-Bloxam was additionally charged with landing in Indonesia without permission.

They have been held in custody since they arrived.

Five witnesses gave evidence against Scott-Bloxam in court, ABC reported on Monday night.

Charges were formally read to the four others.

A low-level separatist insurgency has simmered in Papua since the 1960s.

Journalists are barred from the province without special permits, and Papuan activists accuse the Indonesian military of widespread human rights abuses, especially around massive foreign-operated mining projects.

The trials could continue for several months, ABC reported.