From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. 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. Can I also acknowledge all you here today who have come together to work out how we can access our land, seas and waters easier and quicker, but who have also come to talk to each other about how we can make better use of our estates to make life a little better for the rest of our mob out there. The judge's four hundred page report presented Mabo and his barristers with a bombshell which threatened to sink their case. (2013 lecture transcript), 2012 Presentation by Professor Henry Reynolds. The Keating government gave effect to the Mabo decision by introducing the Native Title Act 1993, which facilitated the process of recognising native title. The Mabo case Records relating to the Mabo case About Eddie Mabo Edward Koiki Mabo was born on 29 June 1936. It is this issue of development that I will explore later in greater detail. He immediately saw the injustice of it and from then on dedicated his life to reversing it. "For two centuries, the British and then white Australians operated under a fallacy, that somehow Aboriginal people did not exist or have land rights before the first settlers arrived in 1788.". 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. 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. Six weeks later his father died. A human rights based approach has been a key part of advocacy of all Social Justice Commissioners. Another key challenge that came out of the roundtable was the need to improve the capacity of our mobs to have the necessary advocacy; governance and risk management skills to successful engage in business and manage our estates in order to secure the best possible outcomes for our communities. 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. the Aborigines did not give up their lands peacefully; they were killed or removed forcibly from the lands by United Kingdom forces or the European colonists in what amounted to attempted (and in Tasmania almost complete) genocide.". Australian law for two centuries hid the truth behind words. That permission was denied. When the decision overturning Terra Nullius eventually came, the judges referred to the policy as "the darkest aspect of (our) national history" and one that left "a legacy of unutterable shame". There were three key components to this: As you will know, the first two of these three components have been implemented, with varying degrees of success and impact on our communities over the years. A Yolngu word meaning to come together after a struggle. 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. You can find it still, somewhere buried in the archives of ABC News. 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 ! Mabo (film) - Wikipedia Watch all your favourite ABC programs on ABC iview. These things range from various legal and administrative barriers that are placed on us once a native title determination has been made and includes various tax and regulatory standards placed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the post determination phase, conflicts between individual and communal property interests and issues arising from the conversion of title. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.. What did Eddie Mabo say in his speech? Text 1936 In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. A decade later, I was a young reporter still in my early 20s, finding my way into the foreign world of journalism when I saw a listing for a case at the High Court. Mabo Day occurs annually in Australia on 3rd June. During this time he enrolled as a student and studied teaching at the College of Advanced Education, which later amalgamated with JCU. But he was wrong. Until Mabo, we had been a forgotten people, even though we knew that we were in the right.". They reflect the period in which they were created and are not the views of the National Archives. You may have heard that Tim Wilson, Human Rights Commissioner and I recently co-convened a roundtable on Yawuru country on the issue of Indigenous property rights. 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. In 1974, he became involved in a discussion with two academics. "The rights he won in the High Court have been eroded away by government, courts and socio-economic pressure.". [1] Cast [ edit] Jimi Bani as Eddie Mabo Gedor Zaro as Young Eddie Deborah Mailman as Bonita Mabo (ne Neehow) I walked into the news meeting at the ABC with words. Transcript 40979 | PM Transcripts 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. Searching for 'Mabo' in RecordSearch brings up many results, including the files below. Mabo died five months earlier from cancer in January 1992, at the age of 55. He knew about suffering. When voices within democracies silenced and marginalised are demanding to be heard, we are bringing oursand challenging our democracy to examine itself and for our constitution to be seeded in the first footprints, not just the first settlers. Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision . 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. Until that day, the legal fiction of terra nullius, the land belonging to no-one, had characterised Australian law and land titles since the voyage of Captain Cook. Transcript notes - MABO, Eddie, RICE, James v State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia, ITM1641344 A fair go in an age of terror: countering the terrorist threat to human rights and the Australian identity, Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Bachelor of Engineering / Science (Honours), Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Bachelor of Nursing Science [Pre-Registration], Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science (Honours), Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours), Master of Public Health - Global Development, Master of Social Work (Professional Qualifying), Master of Teaching and Learning (Primary), Master of Teaching and Learning (Secondary), Master of Conflict Management & Resolution, Graduate Certificate of Conflict Management & Resolution, Master of International Tourism & Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Business & Environmental Science, Diploma of Higher Education Majoring in Business Studies, Diploma of Higher Education Majoring in Engineering and Applied Science, Diploma of Higher Education Majoring in General Studies, Diploma of Higher Education Majoring in Health, Diploma of Higher Education Majoring in Information Technology, Diploma of Higher Education Majoring in Science, Diploma of Higher Education, Majoring in Society and Culture, Bachelor of Business & Psychological Science, Bachelor of Sport & Exercise Science - Bachelor of Psychological Science, Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) & Information Technology, Get Into University Courses with a Low ATAR. Mabo v Queensland (No 1) was heard in 1986and 1988. 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 in 1936, Mabo started life like so many other indigenous people, deprived of a meaningful education, denied access to whites-only buses, cinemas, even toilets. Uncle Edward 'Koiki' Mabo was born in 1936, in Las on the island of Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait to 'Robert' Zesou Sambo and 'Annie' Poipe, ne Mabo. Of invasion. There was something of destiny in the air. Tenacity, fearlessness, fearsome, tireless are some of the words that come to mind when the names Rob Riley and Eddie Mabo are mentioned. On 3 June 1992, six of the seven High Court judges upheld the claim and ruled that the lands of . So today it is indeed an honour for both my people and myself to be presenting this year's Edward Koiki Mabo Lecture. Edward Koiki (Eddie) Mabo - Australian Dictionary of Biography "He became a driven man," says his friend and documentary maker, Trevor Graham. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series - IERC - JCU Australia 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. [11]Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), preamble. 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. 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. We know sadness. It clearly did not, for instance, lead to vast numbers of white Australians being forced from their homes, businesses, mines or farms. These barriers all prevent us from using our land to enter into the economy from which we can see ourselves and our communities thrive. Meriam history and culture were crucial to the success of the Mabo case. But he had to find words to speak a deeper truth even as he upheld the myth of terra nullius that Aboriginal people, he said, had a "subtle and elaborate system of law". Mr Mabo died in 1992 just months before his 10-year legal battle for native title rights proved successful. Reynolds struck up a friendship with Eddie Mabo, who was then a groundsman and gardener at James Cook University. Mabo/The Man/Land Rights Conference 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]. The earliest papers on the Murray Island land claim are a manuscript and typescript of a speech by Mabo at the Land Rights and Future of Australian Race Relations Conference at James Cook University in 1981. . Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. My people are the Gangulu from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture | Australian Human Rights Commission Eddie Mabo, the man behind Mabo Day | Indigenous.gov.au He knew about hope and he knew about justice. Eddie Mabo was a staff member at JCU, working as a groundsman from 1967 to 1971. According to accounts of the conversation, the two scholarly figures looked at each other and then, delicately, told Mabo that he didn't own the land and that it was Crown land. What Exactly Is 'Mabo Day' And Why Is June 3 Such An - ELLE