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. We pay our respects to the people, their cultures and Elders past, present and emerging. Eddie Koiki Mabo was an advocate of the 1967 Referendum, fighting for equal rights including education. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today. "Koiki was ambitious for himself and for his people.". This effectively overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, which held that Australia didn't belong to anybody before European colonisation. But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. The justices spoke of a legacy of "unutterable shame"and that the dispossession of Indigenous people was the darkest aspect of Australia's history. It is lament. The Mabo decision What is the Mabo decision? I'd also like to thank AIATSIS for the invitation to speak today and in doing that can I congratulate you Russell on receiving your recent Member of the Order of Australia award. 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. You and I know all too well that we live shorter, poorer lives than our non-Aboriginal counterparts. Text 1936 The words are carefully chosen to sit alongside each other withjust the right length and the right tone, each one setting up the other and chosen for both meaning and music. For the love of his family and tradition, he fights for his 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. Two words showed something was wrong with the system, After centuries of Murdaugh rule in the Deep South, the family's power ends with a life sentence for murder, Flooding in southern Malaysia forces 40,000 people to flee homes, When Daniel picked up a dropped box on a busy road, he had no idea it would lead to the 'best present ever', Plans to redevelop 'eyesore' on prime riverside land fall apart as billionaires exit, Labor's pledge for mega koala park in south-west Sydney welcomed by conservation groups, Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan actor, dies aged 61. This will always be our land. As Kevin Mason divedin the ocean, a compliance officer waswatching on the cliffs above. 5. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. I had read about the case as it moved through the lower courts. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Watch. Uncle Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo. The National Archives holds a diverse array of records relating to the Mabo case. 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. He knew about hope and he knew about justice. Unfortunately, the right to development is not a concept often thought about in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as members of a developed country. 2009 Presentation by Professor Ross Garnaut, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow in Economics, The University of Melbourne, and Distinguished Professor, The Australian University. These legal challenges continued into the 20th century rulings maintained the legitimacy of the Crown but could not extinguish completely the Aboriginal claims. About 800 kilometers north of Cairns sits the small remote community of Mer (Murray) Island in the crystal blue waters of the Torres Strait. In his historic speech at Sydney's Redfern Park, then Prime Minister Paul Keaing said: "By doing away with the bizarre conceit that this continent had no owners prior to the settlement of Europeans, Mabo establishes a fundamental truth and lays the basis for justice." And he was right. Stan Grant is the ABC's international affairs analyst and presents China Tonight on Monday at 9:35pm on ABC TV, and Tuesday at 8pm on the ABC News Channel, anda co-presenter of Q+A on Thursday at 8:30pm. Mabo said was that it is my fathers & grandfather's, grandmother's land, I am related to it, it is my identity. 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's legal pursuit of these issues resulted in one of the most significant legal cases in Australian history, in that it completely overturned the idea of terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) and challenged traditionally held beliefs about how Australia came into being, and about ownership of land. [3] N Pearson in The Australian, Property rights will help economical development of Indigenous Australians, 22 May 2015. He is hardworking and determined, but at the cost of his family life. This was not empty land. (2012) This program was published 2 years ago. Mabo v Queensland (No 1) was heard in 1986and 1988. Eddie Mabo would not live to see his final victory, but in that judgement he became immortal. [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? 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. It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. Transcript. The court dismissed his challenge to Australian sovereignty, but in his opinion Justice Lionel Murphy rattled the bones of the Australian settlement. " We all know about the legacy of native title left by Meriam and Murray Islanders Edward Koiki Mabo, David Passi and James Rice. 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. It clearly did not, for instance, lead to vast numbers of white Australians being forced from their homes, businesses, mines or farms. [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992. 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. The remarkable life story of Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo; a Torres Strait Islander who left school at the age of 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that overthrew the fiction of terra nullius. There was something of destiny in the air. I want to give two words from my people, Wiradjuri. Another similarity is something that sometimes we do not acknowledge enough. "The golden house of is collapses. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. 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. 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). What did Eddie Mabo say in his speech? 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. He petitioned, campaigned, cajoled and questioned Terra Nullius for 18 years. 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. At: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRCRefJl/2009/15.html#FootnoteB6 (viewed 9 June 2015). Keating begins by discussing the moral and legal implications of the decision. De Rose Hill is a landmark case because it represents a significant moment in time in the native title space. 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. Those cases resulted in the acknowledgment that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had the right to claim the land they and their ancestors had lived on for thousands of years. It was on 3 June 1992 that the Australian High Court overturned more than 200 years of white domination of land ownership. A case was made, and took 10 years to reach a decision. It is a feeling. 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. 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. 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. Searching for 'Mabo' in RecordSearch brings up many results, including the files below. He is best known for the two court cases that bear his name, Mabo v. Queensland (numbers 1 and 2). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource and resource page may contain the image, name or voice of deceased persons. 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. It was through his association with JCU humanities and education staff, Professor Henry Reynolds and Associate Professor Noel Loos, that Eddie became interested in who owned the land on which his people lived, and in Native Title. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from "time immemorial", and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. Mabo died five months earlier from cancer in January 1992, at the age of 55. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. 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. Typical of such awards, the citations are generally understated and this is particularly so in your case. Mabo and his fellow plaintiff's fought for land on Mer - their ancestral gardens and home. Only land such as vacant crown land, national parks and some leased land, can be subject to claims by the Aboriginal owners. Today I want to talk about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can be the leaders to grasp new opportunities that will leave a legacy for generations to come. We know sadness. Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Science and Innovation. Eddie Koiki Sambo was born on June 29, 1936 on the Torres Strait island of Mer, also known as Murray Island. Six weeks later his father died. Transcript notes - MABO, Eddie, RICE, James v State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia, ITM1641344 I honour your Elders that have come before you, those that are here today and I wait in optimistic anticipation for those Elders who are yet to emerge. 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). I like how the words create a rhythm. Words speak across tongues. Make an Impact. 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. The courts had previously found that the Nguraritja had non-exclusive native title over certain parcels of land, but not over those where native title had already been extinguished.