Eddie Mabo's role in Land Rights

In 1992, the High Court of Australia issued a landmark ruling in the case of Mabo v Queensland. 

This decision was pivotal as it acknowledged the concept of Native Title, affirming the legal rights of Indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands.

The decision reversed the long-standing terra nullius principle which had negated the land rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Eddie Mabo, an Indigenous inhabitant from Murray Island in Queensland, initiated the case. His pursuit of justice significantly altered Australian legislation, forging a route towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Eddie Mabo was born in 1936 on the Murray Islands. He was the fourth child of Robert and Poipe Sambo. 

Following his mother's death soon after his birth, Eddie was adopted by his uncle, Benny Mabo. He was a member of the Meriam people, who have resided on the islands for more than 6000 years.

Despite having few material possessions, Mabo's childhood was marked by contentment. He grew up fishing, hunting, and gathering food from the land.

He attended school until he was 14 years old, after which he began working as a laborer on pearling boats. In 1959, he married his wife Bonita, and they raised 10 children together.

In 1967, Eddie Mabo became a gardener at James Cook University. It was here that he began questioning why his people did not own their traditional lands, despite their long-standing presence on the islands.

He formed friendships with two James Cook University historians, Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, who encouraged Mabo to pursue his research on land rights.

When Mabo's adopted father, Benny, died in 1972, Eddie was told that he could not inherit his father's land because, under Queensland law, Indigenous people did not own the land. 

This deeply upset Mabo and strengthened his resolve to fight for the recognition of Indigenous Australian land rights.

Mabo decided to dedicate his life to this cause, collaborating with other Indigenous Australian activists to raise awareness about the issue.

In 1982, he delivered a speech at James Cook University entitled 'Land Rights are Human Rights,' bringing national attention to the issue of Native Title.

In the same year, Mabo and four other Murray Islanders - Celuia Mapo Salee, James Rice, David Passi, and Sam Passi - filed a lawsuit against the Queensland Government.

They argued that the Murray Islands were the traditional lands of the Meriam people, and that they had been illegally dispossessed of their lands since 1879.

However, lawyers for the Queensland state government contended that the Meriam people had no legal right to their traditional lands, as they had never 'acquired' it from the Crown.

They argued that, under British law known as terra nullius, Australia had been effectively 'empty land' when British settlers arrived in 1788.

This meant that, according to the government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had no legal rights to their ancestral lands. 

As a result, the Mabo case was defeated by the Queensland Supreme Court.

Not content with that decision, Mabo and his co-plaintiffs appealed to the High Court of Australia. After a decade of legal battles, the case finally went to trial in 1992.

In a historic decision on 3 June, the court ruled that terra nullius did not apply in Australia and that Indigenous people did indeed have a legal right to their traditional lands.

The court's decision also recognized the existence of Native Title – the right of Indigenous people to their traditional lands.

This groundbreaking ruling overturned centuries of discriminatory legislation and provided momentum for reconciliation efforts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The landmark ruling became known as the 'Mabo decision' and reversed centuries of laws that had deprived Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of their land rights. 

Tragically, Eddie Mabo passed away from cancer a few months before the verdict was delivered, yet his legacy continues to live on.

In 1993, as a response to the Mabo decision, the Australian Government introduced the Native Title Act, which acknowledged the rights of Indigenous people to their traditional lands.

The Act was amended in 1998, further shaping the landscape of Native Title rights, but it has been a subject of controversy as critics argue it accommodates the interests of mining and pastoral leaseholders more than Indigenous communities.

Thanks to Eddie Mabo's courage and determination, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's rights to their traditional lands have been recognized.

His fight for justice underscores the enduring significance of Indigenous land rights in Australia.