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Rejected at each turn. Eddie Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander activist. The Mabo verdict was arguably the most significant court ruling in the history of Indigenous Australia, overturning the concept of terra nullius and paving the way for native title. Eddie Mabo (left) and . In 1981, Eddie Mabo made a speech at James Cook University in Queensland, where he explained his people's beliefs about the ownership and inheritance of land on Mer. In my tribute to Rob, I mentioned how losing that fight for national land rights lit the fires for what was to become the fight for native title led by Eddie, with Rob being part of the leadership that negotiated the Native Title Act through the national parliament to give legislative effect to the High Court decision championed by Eddie. But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. And in 1981, Eddie was invited by the same university to make a speech about Mer's land inheritance system. Friends we are the First Peoples of this country and we are the oldest living culture in the world because of our ability to adapt to ever changing environments and circumstances. This dispossession occurred largely without compensation, and successive governments have failed to reach a lasting and equitable agreement with Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders concerning the use of their lands.[12]. About 800 kilometers north of Cairns sits the small remote community of Mer (Murray) Island in the crystal blue waters of the Torres Strait. Some key principles underpinning this right are: This Declaration centralizes the role of both the individual and government in the development process, arguing for the State to create national policies to properly ensure the development of all individuals. And he was right. Winanghanha is to return to knowing: to know what we have always known. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of limited native title. We will adapt, we will take advantage of these opportunities and we will leave a great legacy. In 1973 Mabo founded the Black Community School in Townsville, which was created to educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Eddie Mabo was heartbroken and never forgave government authorities. On 8 December 1988, the High Court ruled this legislation invalid. Nor did the judges intend that it should. Yindyamarra is respect: It is quiet, it is humble. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. HOST: Today is Mabo Day. A Yolngu word meaning to come together after a struggle. [2] Australian Human Rights Commission, Paper on Indigenous Leaders Roundtable, Property Rights, p4. Overwhelmingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have indicated that it is time for a new process of engagement to occur with the government on the topic of our rights after native title. But despite the success of the '67 campaign, in 1972 Eddie Mabo still had to get permission from the Queensland authorities to visit his dying father on Mer Island. [1] And that shift is the move to the next emerging challenge; how do we maximise these rights to their full potential, now that we have our native title recognized? Can I be indulgent and add a couple of others. the Aborigines did not give up their lands peacefully; they were killed or removed forcibly from the lands by United Kingdom forces or the European colonists in what amounted to attempted (and in Tasmania almost complete) genocide.". This will always be our land. Love, kindness, forgiveness; always love. Eternal. This is an edited extract of the 2022 Mabo Lecture, delivered by Stan Grant on June 3, 2022, to commemorate 30 years since the Mabo decision. Eddie Mabo at James Cook University, early 1980s Series 8. Suggested answer: While working as a grounds keeper at James Cook University in Townsville, Eddie learnt about Australian land ownership laws. A world turning. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? [9] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? This was not empty land. This effectively overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, which held that Australia didn't belong to anybody before European colonisation. Born in 1936, he grew up in the village of Las on the north bend of Mer Island. Others, while acknowledging the shortcomings of Mabo's long-term legacy, still regard it as a watershed moment in Australian political, cultural and economic life. Justice John Willis said: "In Australia it is the colonists not the Aborigines are the foreigners.". I have heard many stories from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and Traditional Owners about the many barriers they face in reaching their potential benefits under land rights and native title. The Mabo decision What is the Mabo decision? That is, how do we build on the underlying communal title to create options for our economic development? The preamble to the Native Title Act makes it clear that the objectives of the legislation are to: rectify the consequences of past injustices by the special measures contained in the Act to ensure that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders receive the full recognition and status within the Australian nation to which history, their prior rights and interests, and their rich and diverse culture, fully entitle them to aspire.[11]. Rachel Perkins, director of the new film, says Mabo's is "an iconic story in the tradition of great Australian tales, how a man, his wife and his mates profoundly changed the nation". Others, mainly white opponents, regarded the judgement as a mistake. Older articles are being reviewed with a view to bringing them into line with contemporary values but the original text will remain available for historical context. . In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. Ten years before, Eddie Koiki Mabo and his comrades started the legal battle for the recognition of the Meriam people and the ownership of Mer Island. At http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf (viewed 9 June 2015). On 3 June 1992 the High Court of Australia ruled that a group of Torres Strait Islander people, led by Eddie Mabo, owned the island of Mer (Murray Island). These skills will enable us to make better and informed decisions for maximum benefit and I look forward, as I am sure you do, to the release of IBAs investment principles, which they are currently developing in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations across the country. Judged by any civilised standard, such a law is unjust ". During this time he enrolled as a student and studied teaching at the College of Advanced Education, which later amalgamated with JCU. Eddie Mabo knew about love too. He was, if you like, an Australian Nelson Mandela, someone who led his people in a struggle against incalculable odds, to what was rightfully theirs. The world of becoming ascends. The case presented by Eddie Mabo and the people of Mer successfully proved that Meriam custom and laws are fundamental to their traditional system of ownership and underpin their traditional rights and obligations in relation to land. In one, the presiding judge said the mere introduction of British law did not extinguish Aboriginal customary law. It is a feeling. This could also be translated as greater Indigenous control over our lands and resources more generally, and a decrease in the burden placed on Indigenous landholders as I have mentioned earlier today by government and other industries. Born in 1936, Mabo started life like so many other indigenous people, deprived of a meaningful education, denied access to whites-only buses, cinemas, even toilets. Aunty Clara Ogleby, I begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Kuku Yalanji people, Traditional Owners of the place upon which we sit and talk today. It was during a stint as a gardener at the James Cook University at Townsville in Queensland, that his eyes were opened to the greatest injustice his people had ever been subjected to. The tools to guide us with a new conversation with Government around the full realization of our rights in relation to land and native title can be found in the UN Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Development. These things range from various legal and administrative barriers that are placed on us once a native title determination has been made and includes various tax and regulatory standards placed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the post determination phase, conflicts between individual and communal property interests and issues arising from the conversion of title. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Yet, the first colonialists decided, for commercial reasons, to ignore all that and peddle the view that Aboriginal people were primitive, disorganised, culture-less creatures who deserved no rights over land. Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Please join with me in acknowledging the life long accomplishments of Russell Taylor. At: http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components#a (viewed 9 June 2015). "Koiki was ambitious for himself and for his people.". And that is the cost to both men and their families. Typical of such awards, the citations are generally understated and this is particularly so in your case. In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four others began action seeking a legal declaratcion of their traditional land rights in the Murray islands of the Torres Strait, Tvn years later onL 3 June 1992, the High Court decided that his people were entitled as against the whole of ! The earliest papers on the Murray Island land claim are a manuscript and typescript of a speech by Mabo at the Land Rights and Future of Australian Race Relations Conference at James Cook University in 1981. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. "The rights he won in the High Court have been eroded away by government, courts and socio-economic pressure.". The 50-minute recording shows Koiki Mabo talking about the history of the Torres Strait Islander community, both in the Torres Strait and on the Australian mainland, and the long term impact on his culture of the coming of Europeans, from the first missionaries to current government administrators. [3] N Pearson in The Australian, Property rights will help economical development of Indigenous Australians, 22 May 2015. This activity encourages children to write down their knowledge in a structured report . Even though these rights have been watered down over the years, they have enabled us to reach a point where we now own nearly a third of the entire Australian continent and I am told approximately 54% of places like the Northern Territory. A panel of judges at the High Court ruled that Aboriginal people were the rightful custodians of the land. Despite the fact that the challenge of gaining native title is still a fight that many of us share, there has been a shift in focus now and we have started to see a gradual change in terms of ownership. Eddie Koiki Mabo: A Meriam man, husband to Bonita Mabo and father to 10 children. Born on 29 June 1936 in his village of Las on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait, Eddie Koiki Mabo was the fourth child of Robert Zesou Sambo and Poipe (Sambo) Mabo. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice, Copyright Australian Human Rights Commission, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/JlIndigP/2014/33.pdf, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/property-rights-will-help-economic-development-of-indigenous-australians/story-e6frg6z6-1227365821530, https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/social_justice_native_title_report_2013.pdf, http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/native-title-report-2008, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/RealizingaVisionforTransformativeDevelopment.aspx, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRCRefJl/2009/15.html#FootnoteB6, http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components#a, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf. The fall of the golden house of is but not the end. The Mabo decision was handed down on June 3, 1992 in the High Court's grand courtroom in Canberra. I also acknowledge Meriam PBC Chair Mr Doug Passi. This independence could be realized through greater roles for Indigenous landholders through business, land management and other opportunities. He was another victim of Terra Nullius, like so many of his fellow indigenous people had been before him. Mabo's love for his homeland drove the proud Torres Strait Islander to undertake a 10- year legal battle that rewrote Australia's history. To make agreements. It is sadness beyond the word sadness itself. Only land such as vacant crown land, national parks and some leased land, can be subject to claims by the Aboriginal owners. The Mabo Case Eddie Mabo is widely known for his plight to regain land rights for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Short for Mabo and others v Queensland (No 2) (1992), the Mabo case, led by Eddie Koiki Mabo, an activist for the 1967 Referendum, fought the legal concept that Australia and the Torres Strait Islands were not owned by Indigenous peoples because they did not 'use' the land in ways Europeans believed constituted some kind of legal possession. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. Three bound volumes regarding the determination of a reference from the High Court of Australia of the factual issues raised in the action by Eddie Mabo and others - prepared by Justice Moynihan. Eddie Mabo was a man of courage and principle who fought for the inherent rights of the Meriam people, and ultimately for the rights of all Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal peoples. [1] Cast [ edit] Jimi Bani as Eddie Mabo Gedor Zaro as Young Eddie Deborah Mailman as Bonita Mabo (ne Neehow) In 1981, Eddie Mabo delivered a speech at James Cook University in Queensland, where he challenged the widely accepted belief of ownership and inheritance of land on Murray Island. Mabo vs Queensland possible Commonwealth interventions, 1991 (A14039, 7909), The Mabo Decision principles for a response, 1993 (A14217, 1042), Mabo responses to the outline of legislation, 1993 (A14217, 1322), Mabo collection at the National Library of Australia, Building trust in the public record policy, Getting started with information management. The lack of planning and support for native titleholders to economically develop their land was identified as one of the major failings of the native title system. Court cases in the mid-19th century challenged the idea of British settlement at the time the rulings were in favour of the Crown. JCU celebrates the history-making Mabo decision with the long establishedEddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series, an annual public commemorative presentation by a prominent person who has made a significant contribution to contemporary Australian society. I have previously spoken at length about the importance of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which contains 46 articles on the rights that Indigenous peoples all around the world hold. In a snapshot. However, in the lead-up to these hearings, the Parliament of Queensland passed the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985, which asserted that, upon being annexed by the Queensland Government in 1879, 'the islands were vested in the Crown freed from all other rights, interests and claims'. eddie began his Journey on changing the rights by Making a speech at a land rights conference at the James Cook University his speech explained the traditional land owners and the inheritance system that . This push for economic independence has sought to move away from models of government dependency and have been premised largely on the use of our land as the basis to achieve this. Mabo expressed. It was awarded Best Documentary at the Australian Film Institute Awards and the Sydney Film Festival.It also received the Script Writing Award at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. Resting Place of Eddie Mabo. Six weeks later his father died. Today in the midst of winter there is still smoke from a campfire, framing a word spelled out on the lawn: Sovereignty. It is lament. When voices within democracies silenced and marginalised are demanding to be heard, we are bringing oursand challenging our democracy to examine itself and for our constitution to be seeded in the first footprints, not just the first settlers. He knew about hope and he knew about justice. And he knew truth. The truth: This was his land. Eddie Mabo had challenged the very ideological establishment of Australia and the first Australians. Eddie Koiki Mabo presents a guest lecture about the Torres Strait Islander community 2,837 views Nov 18, 2020 51 Dislike Share Save JCU Library 451 subscribers This short video is an excerpt. There will be many words between now and then. 5. Alex Murdaugh jailed for life for double murder, Why the disgraced lawyer was spared death penalty, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Read about our approach to external linking. And it was this; hardly any compensation has come our way despite all of the fear mongering over the years about the rivers of compensation that would flow from the realization of our rights under land rights and native title. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that the National Archives' website and collection contain the names, images and voices of people who have died. This achievement certainly encourages me. (2013 lecture transcript), 2012 Presentation by Professor Henry Reynolds. In going down this track we have to understand and have to get these institutions to understand that there is a fair dinkum business case for doing this because we have had enough of welfare and charity. "It gave us back our pride. In the Shire of . 2023 BBC. Unlike them, however, Mabo wasn't going to accept it. Bonita 'Netta' Mabo: Eddie's wife and is a resourceful, supportive and loving woman. You and I know all too well that we live shorter, poorer lives than our non-Aboriginal counterparts. We go on, he said, ever, ever, ever on. The theme of this years conference is Leadership, Legacy and Opportunity. Mabo Day occurs annually in Australia on 3rd June. This is our land. In particular, Roundtable participants lamented the lack of governance skills amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander landholders to successfully engage in business development and to manage their estates. The truth: This was his land. However, the social justice package, which was meant to address compensation for the dispossession of land and the dispersal of the Indigenous population remains unfulfilled.[4]. These often hamper the development and economic aspirations of the communities involved right from the start. The practical effects of Mabo have, indeed, been mixed, judging by figures from the Koori Mail, a national indigenous-owned newspaper. This needs to change. I like how the words create a rhythm. When our world is ablaze with conflict. Up to April 2010, 84 native title cases had been dealt with by the courts, and 854,000 sq km (330,000 sq miles) is now covered by native title determinations. When I looked over the lives of these two great Australians I was struck by the similarities of their struggles and the qualities they each share. Uncle Edward 'Koiki' Mabo was born in 1936, in Las on the island of Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait to 'Robert' Zesou Sambo and 'Annie' Poipe, ne Mabo. I believe that it is this framework that has the power to elevate the aspirations that we have as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in relation to land. To seek justice we had to speak the words of British law. Well, Australia now stands at a moment of history. They both endured early hard lives that steeled them for the struggles that would eventually come their way. Fungibility and native title. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today.