Eddie Mabo's role in Land Rights

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

This case was significant because it recognized the existence of Native Title – the legal right of Indigenous people to their traditional lands.

This ruling overturned a centuries-long principle known as terra nullius that had denied Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people their land rights.

The case was brought by Eddie Mabo, an Indigenous man from Murray Island in Queensland. Mabo's fight for justice fundamentally changed Australian law, creating a pathway for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Eddie Mabo was born on the Murray Islands in 1936. As the seventh of eight children born to Benny and Sammie Mabo, Eddie belonged to the Meriam people, who have lived on the islands for over 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 1955, he married his wife Bonita, and they had three children together.

In 1973, 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 father, Benny, died in 1979, Eddie was told that he could not inherit his father's land because Queensland law only permitted people of European descent to own 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 could not have any legal claim to their traditional lands.

After a decade of legal battles, the case finally went to trial in the High Court of Australia in 1992.

In a historic decision, 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.

On June 3rd, 1992, the High Court delivered its verdict in the case of Mabo v Queensland.

The court found in favor of Mabo and his co-plaintiffs and formally acknowledged the existence of Native Title in Australia.

The 'Mabo decision,' as it came to be called, overturned centuries of legislation that had denied Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people their land rights.

Eddie Mabo died of cancer just months after the court's decision was handed down, but his legacy endures.

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.