Mabo v Queensland: the landmark decision that changed indigenous land rights in Australia

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

When his mother died shortly after his birth, Eddie was adopted by his uncle, Benny Mabo.

His parents were of the Meriam people, who have lived on the islands for over 6,000 years.

When Eddie was around nine or ten years old, he, along with other boys, was taught traditional dances and songs about the god Malo.

Then, at the age of fifteen, he recollected spending a month learning about Malo's laws through instruction from his grandfather.

Eddie attended school until he was 14 years old, after which he moved to Townsville in Queensland in 1959, where he began working as a laborer on pearling boats.

In the same year, he married his wife Bonita, and they had three children together.

In 1972, Mabo's adopted father, Benny, had died. Eddie was informed that he could not inherit his father's land because, under Queensland law, indigenous people did not own the land.

This news deeply upset Eddie and it gave him a determination to fight for the recognition of Indigenous Australian land rights.

He decided to dedicate his life to this cause and began working with other Indigenous Australian activists to raise awareness about the issue.

In 1973, he helped set up a school for indigenous children in Townsville and helped teach the classes there.

In the early 1980s, Eddie Mabo was working as a gardener and groundskeeper at James Cook University.

It was here that he first began to question why his people did not legally own their traditional lands, even though they had lived on the islands for thousands of years.

In 1981, he gave a speech at JCU about land rights and Mer Island, which helped bring the issue of Native Title to national attention.

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

A solicitor from Perth, Greg McIntyre, agreed to present Eddie's case, along with two barristers, Ron Castan and Bryan Keon-Cohen. 

In 1982, Mabo and four other Murray Islanders - Celuia Mapo Salee, James Rice, David Passi, and Deirdre Nikado - filed a lawsuit against the Queensland Government in the High Court of Australia.

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

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

They stated that, because of the British law of 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 eight years of legal battles, the decision was finally handed down by the High Court of Australia in 1992.

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

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

This groundbreaking decision overturned centuries of discriminatory legislation and paved the way for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

On June 3, 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 recognized the existence of Native Title in Australia.

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

Sadly, Eddie Mabo died of cancer on the 21st of January of 1992, several months before the court's decision was handed down, but his legacy lives on.

In 1993, the Australian Government introduced the Native Title Act, which established the framework for the recognition and protection of native title in Australia.

This act would not have been possible without the courage and determination of Eddie Mabo, who fought for justice for his people until the very end.

The Native Title Amendment Act was passed in 2001, which amended the Native Title Act of 1993 to address some concerns and issues that had arisen since its initial enactment.

Thanks to Mabo, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people finally have a voice – and a place – in Australia.