A Yolngu word meaning to come together after a struggle. In 1959, he moved to mainland Queensland, working on pearling vessels and as a labourer. [2] Australian Human Rights Commission, Paper on Indigenous Leaders Roundtable, Property Rights, p4. Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision . 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. In some ways our systems of governance is a defining feature of the oldest living culture on this planet. I want to begin by honouring and quoting the words of the now late chief justice of the High Court of Australia, Sir Gerard Brennan,the words he wrote in his lead judgement in the Mabo case: The common law itself took from Indigenous inhabitants any right to occupy their traditional land, exposed them to deprivation of the religious, cultural and economic sustenance which the land provides, vested the land effectively in the control of the imperial authorities without any right to compensation and made the Indigenous inhabitants intruders in their own homes and mendicants for a place to live. Tenacity, fearlessness, fearsome, tireless are some of the words that come to mind when the names Rob Riley and Eddie Mabo are mentioned. Several cabinet papers from the time of the Mabo decision reflect on its likely ramifications, including: The National Archives of Australia acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of Country throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land, sea and community. Eddie Koiki Mabo at Las, Murray Island, 1989 On 3 June 1992 the High Court of Australia recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, held ownership of Mer (Murray Island). Words like the Uluru Statement from the Heart: We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. The debate about Mabo's legacy still goes on today, Many indigenous Australians still live in poverty, Bakhmut attacks still being repelled, says Ukraine, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Mother who killed her five children euthanised, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Zoom boss Greg Tomb fired without cause. "If Koiki Mabo were alive today he would be an angry man," says Malezer. The new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, says there will be a referendum to enshrine a voice an Indigenous representative body in the Australian constitution. It is clear that the current system has not delivered what had initially been intended to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Without this foundation, there would be no opportunity for us to access these rights through this unique form of land tenure. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series. Then, in June 1992, the years of sacrifice and persuasion came to fruition. He knew about hope and he knew about justice. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. . The second key theme that was raised at the roundtable was the issue of financing economic development within the Indigenous estate. We go on, he said, ever, ever, ever on. When democracy is teetering and autocracy is rising. "The golden house of is collapses. Words like han. At: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/RealizingaVisionforTransformativeDevelopment.aspx (viewed 9 June 2015), [8] N Collings, Native title, economic development and the environment, Australian Law Reform Commission Journal 15, 2009. However, most importantly of all, we are now faced with the challenge of how to make the most of our rights to land and native title once we have them, for our prosperity and sustainability. It is sadness beyond the word sadness itself. Fungibility and native title. While working as a gardener at James Cook University, he found out through two historians that, by law, he and his family did not own their land on Mer. Few Australians then knew the name Eddie Mabo. Justice John Willis said: "In Australia it is the colonists not the Aborigines are the foreigners.". [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? In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. For many at JCU, the landmark legal decision has been rendered personal, as well as political and historic, because of Eddie's important association with JCU staff and students, and with our surrounding communities. Eddie Mabo was a great hero to the Australian people. A panel of judges at the High Court ruled that Aboriginal people were the rightful custodians of the land. He's recorded as saying: "No way, it's not theirs, it's ours." This will always be our land. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. - Behind the News Behind the News 133K subscribers Subscribe 483 106K views 3 years ago Mabo Day on June 3rd, celebrates. There will be many words between now and then. Volume 3 (146pp). Make an Impact. The High Court is the highest court in Australia's judicial system. This issue of transfer, usability and conversion of title threw up many challenges around how to retain underlying customary title but make it usable in the modern sense. 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. I was no lawyerbut I knew I sensed this was different. His mother passed away shortly after his birth and he was adopted by his maternal Uncle and Aunt, Benny and Maiga Mabo in line with Islander . 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. My predecessor Dr Tom Calma explained the impact of never implementing a social justice package in 2008: this abyss is one of the underlying reasons why the native title system is under the strain it is under today[5]. It is clear that we have seen a change in momentum as far as this space is concerned. "It gave us back our pride. A number of key challenges that face Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were explored, particularly when it comes to the full realization of our rights under land rights and native title. That is, after 20 years of operation, we finally saw the first time compensation had been awarded for the extinguishment of native title rights and interests under the Native Title Act. Choose from the list of topics on the left and then choose 'Click to Play'. 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. De Rose Hill is a landmark case because it represents a significant moment in time in the native title space. That is, how do we build on the underlying communal title to create options for our economic development? "He became a driven man," says his friend and documentary maker, Trevor Graham. And he knew truth. We did not end. The next generation of native title issues are due to hit us shortly through processes such as litigation regarding ILUAs, variations to determinations and compensation proceedings.[2]. 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. [11]Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), preamble. This Declaration on the Right to Development was adopted by the General Assembly in 1986. He immediately saw the injustice of it and from then on dedicated his life to reversing it. "Quite simply, Eddie Mabo brought an end to a two-centuries-old lie," says Rachel Perkins, director and inspiration behind the new movie, Mabo, released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the historic High Court case. Aboriginal Australians are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark victory over land rights. 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. As a nation, this is an improvement from fourth position just over ten years ago in 2003.[10]. 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. Their hard fought battle against the Queensland government finally consigned the lie of terra nullius to the historical dustbin and recognised the unique rights that we hold as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to our traditional land and waters. In a snapshot. There was scepticism, even cynicism, but I was able to report the story. We all know about the legacy of native title left by Meriam and Murray Islanders Edward Koiki Mabo, David Passi and James Rice. In one, the presiding judge said the mere introduction of British law did not extinguish Aboriginal customary law. At the 1981 James Cook University Land Rights Conference Eddie Mabo made a passionate speech about land ownership and ancestral inheritance in the Murray Islands. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. As Kevin Mason divedin the ocean, a compliance officer waswatching on the cliffs above. Reynolds writes: I have been honoured in the last six weeks by being asked to deliver both the Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture here today and the Rob Riley Memorial Lecture on Friday the 8th of May in Perth. In conversations with Commissioner Wilson and others, we are in the midst of developing what the next step in this process should look like and we will continue to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples such as yourselves in order to do this. While he believed the Murray Island belonged to the Torres Strait Islander people, Australian law stated that the Government owned the land. It was also a flagrant disregard of Britain's own existing laws, which stated that the Aboriginal people did have title rights over their own land. To sign treaties. But it was a bittersweet moment for the indigenous population. About 800 kilometers north of Cairns sits the small remote community of Mer (Murray) Island in the crystal blue waters of the Torres Strait. However the Federal Court found that the South Australian government were liable for an undisclosed amount to the Nguraritja people for parcels of land over which, but for the prior extinguishing acts of government, they would have held native title. [10] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report, p237. In 1979 Wiradjuri man and law student Paul Coewalked the path that Eddie Mabo would follow all the way to the High Court of Australia. He is best known for the two court cases that bear his name, Mabo v. Queensland (numbers 1 and 2). There was something of destiny in the air. The Murray Islands Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (commonly known as the Mabo case or simply Mabo) is a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that recognised the existence of Native Title in Australia. On 3 June 1992, six of the seven High Court judges upheld the claim and ruled that the lands of . Gail Mabo and Prime Minister Tony Abbott during their visit to the grave of Eddie Mabo on Mer Island. The Declaration incorporates four fundamental human rights principles that can be categorised as: However, the UN Declaration on the Right to Development has been a lesser-known cousin to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 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. 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. We are still trying to find the words to equal the full measure of Eddie Mabo's devotion. Unlike them, however, Mabo wasn't going to accept it. When our world is ablaze with conflict. Strengthening our relationships over lands, territories and resources: the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Climate change from the perspective of the Torres Strait, Beyond Mabo: Native Title and closing the gap, People, identity and place. It commemoratesEdward (Eddie) Koiki Mabo (1936-1992), a Torres Strait Islander whose campaign for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights led to a landmark decision in the High Court of Australia on 3rd June 1992 that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius, which had characterised Australian law with respect to land and title since the voyage of Captain James Cook in 1770. More Information .We are closed in a box. Eddie Koiki Mabo died of cancer on 21 January 1991, before the case was resolved. The Mabo decision was handed down on June 3, 1992 in the High Court's grand courtroom in Canberra. Six weeks later his father died. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today. A documentary, Mabo: Life of an Island Man, directed by Trevor Graham, was released in 1997 and received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary. 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. We will adapt, we will take advantage of these opportunities and we will leave a great legacy. Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Science and Innovation. In May 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait began action in the High Court of Australia seeking confirmation of their traditional land rights. 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. As Noel Pearson has recently said in relation to this issue: Were moving from a land rights claim phase to a land rights use phase where people are grappling with how we make our land contribute to our development.[3]. He is hardworking and determined, but at the cost of his family life. It is short for Mabo and others v Queensland (No 2) (1992). Our landsings gently a song of sadness. Transcript notes - MABO, Eddie, RICE, James v State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia, ITM1641344 Birthdays, anniversaries, sports events and special schools days were missed. To make agreements. [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992. I have heard it at dawn as the earth crackles, the river waters run, and the animals stir as the Sun peers above the hills and the light strikes the trees on my beloved Wiradjuri country. The judge's four hundred page report presented Mabo and his barristers with a bombshell which threatened to sink their case. The memory of wounds. Barrister Ron Castan, Eddie Mabo and barrister Bryan Keon-Cohen at . Eddie Mabo's dream had come true; a meeting of minds to address the issue of Aboriginal land . But that hasn't stopped indigenous people, like Queensland elder Douglas Bon, taking great satisfaction in the ruling. In 1994 the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) was established in response to Read More Finally, the remaining key theme of the meeting was the issue of our right as Indigenous peoples to development. So, in many ways, the victory has been more symbolic than practical. [3] N Pearson in The Australian, Property rights will help economical development of Indigenous Australians, 22 May 2015. He knew about suffering. Mabo tells the story of one of Australia's national heroes - Eddie Koiki Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander man who left school at age 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that overthrew the fiction of terra nullius. The judges satisfied themselves that Aboriginal people had been in Australia first, did have a long, rich culture that denoted civilisation and had voluminous evidence of land demarcation, usage and inheritance, to back up their claims of longevity and history. 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 ! Winanghanha is to return to knowing: to know what we have always known. The golden house of is collapses and the world of becoming ascended.". But we know that these scales do not capture the social disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The commitment to a land fund; and importantly, participation in decision-making underpinned by the concept of free, prior and informed consent and good faith. At: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRCRefJl/2009/15.html#FootnoteB6 (viewed 9 June 2015). Audio file Transcript About this record This is the soundtrack of an address to the nation on 15 November 1993 by the then Prime Minister Paul Keating, explaining the Australian Government's response to the High Court's Mabo decision. active, free and meaningful participation in development; self-determination and full sovereignty over natural wealth and resources. Mabo's credibility as the primary witness for the case was savaged . 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. 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. For the love of his family and tradition, he fights for his land on Murray Island. That word is emblazoned still at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of the Old Parliament House in Canberra. To build a world worth living in. 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. Another similarity is something that sometimes we do not acknowledge enough. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this site may contain names, images or voices of people who have passed away. In-text: (Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision, 2019) Your Bibliography: Time Out Sydney. No transcript available, 2016 Lecture Presentation by Professor N M Nakata, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Indigenous Education and Strategy, James Cook University (Transcript), 2016 Lecture Presentation by Professor N M Nakata, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Indigenous Education and Strategy, James Cook University (2016 Lecture Transcript), 2015 Presentation by The Hon. He would later describe his time on the island as 'the best time of my life'1. The Court also recognised that all Indigenous people in Australia have rights to their land. We cross rivers and we are changed like the water itself. Only land such as vacant crown land, national parks and some leased land, can be subject to claims by the Aboriginal owners. Twenty three years after the Mabo decision we are going through another adaption as we talk about how we can start to enjoy the benefits that come from land ownership in the same way that is open to all other Australians, without compromising our unique rights as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. and in 2008 James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. This was our land. However, it also raised equally relevant issues around the many state and local government land taxes and rates that apply once conversion has taken place. 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. And in some cases native title had become a millstone, almost drowning people in a sea of regulation, red tape and process without any semblance of necessary support. Mabo died five months earlier from cancer in January 1992, at the age of 55. This is our land. In 1982, along with four other Meriam people from Murray Island, he initiated legal proceedings in the Queensland Supreme Court claiming customary ownership of their lands on Murray Island. As the Broome Roundtable highlighted, this remains one of the key unresolved issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their quest for ongoing economic development. Australia owes you a great debt. Eddie Mabo was heartbroken and never forgave government authorities. That nearly a third of our land mass is Indigenous owned is testament to this. Elders saythe wateris now a battleground. The Roundtable was held after there was significant interest on this issue when Commissioner Wilson and I undertook some consultations around the country last year. Here we are 30 years later, still on that journey. Love, suffering, hope, justice and truth Eddie Mabo knew about love too. Mabo was a Torres Strait islander from Mer (Murray Island), off Australia's north-east coast. People gathered this week in Townsville, Queensland, to remember a seminal moment in the nation's history, and the efforts of one man to bring it about. In particular, this was raised as a way that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities might be able to leverage finances in order to support economic development opportunities and to improve the capacity of our mobs to best manage these prospects in the future. That's why the legal decision is universally known as "Mabo". 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. The truth: This was his land. On 3 June 1992, six of seven Australian High Court judges ruled: The Meriam people are entitled as against the whole world to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray Islands [in Torres Strait]. He also co-operated with members of the Communist Party, the only white political party to support Aboriginal campaigns at the time. A culture and a people facing devastation. The golden house of is of culture and connection, of blood and dreaming, of time immemorial how the golden house of is collapses. Milosz wrote into the horror of the 20th century as he saw war all around him. Family gatherings were foregone. I also acknowledge the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion who is here today and my colleague Tim Wilson, our Australian Human Rights Commissioner. He spoke of impermanence: He knew things did not last and yet we do. Ten years later, he conceded his fears were unfounded.