Eddie Mabo Case Study - 1556 Words | 123 Help Me He is hardworking and determined, but at the cost of his family life. Husband, father, grandfather, mate, advocate, achiever, Principal and mentor. 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". Mabo/The Man/Land Rights Conference The former president of Western Australia's Liberal Party, Bill Hassel, said the ruling was greeted with "outrage". The victory was largely down to one indigenous man called Eddie Mabo. It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. 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. He immediately saw the injustice of it and from then on dedicated his life to reversing it. 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. These are the traditional lands and waters of the Meriam people, and the final resting place of Eddie Mabo in Las Village. Mabo Day & Native Title: Who was Eddie Mabo & what is his legacy Our landsings gently a song of sadness. I want to give two words from my people, Wiradjuri. Birthdays, anniversaries, sports events and special schools days were missed. 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. 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. 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. Tony Abbott thanks Eddie Mabo daughter 'Aunty Gail' for helping him [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992. Mabo | Film Analysis, Summary, Themes & Characters Insight into the significance of Mabo Day for Aboriginal and Torres He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. Finally, the remaining key theme of the meeting was the issue of our right as Indigenous peoples to development. Transcript of proceedings.in the High Court of Australia between Eddie Mabo, David Passi, James Rice.and the State of Queensland Proceedings for 28-31 May 1991, 3 June 1992, and 8 December 1992. 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. Mabo decision | Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom A lawyer heard the speech and asked Eddie if he would like to challenge the Australian Government in the court system, to decide who the true owner of the land on Mer was, his . Top 10 Amazing Facts about Eddie Mabo - Discover Walks Blog Some went further, fuelling the hysteria with unsubstantiated claims - Jeff Kennett, then the premier of Victoria, said suburban backyards could be at risk of takeover by Aboriginal people. 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. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series. Eddie Mabo was heartbroken and never forgave government authorities. Only land such as vacant crown land, national parks and some leased land, can be subject to claims by the Aboriginal owners. But without warriors such as Eddie, David and James, Rob and countless others, we would not be in the position regarding Indigenous land tenure that we are in today. We are currently not sharing in the developmental prosperity for which Australia is known. This often presents internal issues for traditional owner groups about how decisions are made and how benefits will be shared and responsibilities exercised. 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. A human rights based approach has been a key part of advocacy of all Social Justice Commissioners. This will always be our land. Eddie Mabo and Gerard Brennan overturned the terra nullius policy and The issue of compensation for unfinished business was another key theme of the Roundtable. HOST: Today is Mabo Day. [9] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report. Mabo: Life of an Island Man is a 1997 Australian documentary film on the life of Indigenous Australian land rights campaigner Eddie Koiki Mabo.. Suggested answer: While working as a grounds keeper at James Cook University in Townsville, Eddie learnt about Australian land ownership laws. He married Bonita, his teenage sweetheart and with whom he had 10 children in a loving partnership that lasted 30 years. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie Mabo, the 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. 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." (2011 lecture transcript), 2010 Presentation by Professor Chris Sarra. Barrister Ron Castan, Eddie Mabo and barrister Bryan Keon-Cohen at . Sign up for free to create engaging, inspiring, and converting videos with Powtoon. . Rachel Perkins, director of the new film, says Mabo's is "an iconic story in the tradition of great Australian tales, how a man, his wife and his mates profoundly changed the nation". In his book Why Weren't We Told?, Reynolds describes the talks they had regarding Mabo's people's rights to their lands, on Murray Island, in the Torres Strait. The second key theme that was raised at the roundtable was the issue of financing economic development within the Indigenous estate. I also acknowledge Meriam PBC Chair Mr Doug Passi. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Elders saythe wateris now a battleground. In-text: (Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision, 2019) Your Bibliography: Time Out Sydney. . Mabo (film) - Wikipedia Participants in Broome identified there was a real need to have a new conversation with Government around Indigenous land and property rights and how this might translate into sustainable economic development. As much as Australias law tried to tell him he was wrong, he knew his law and he knew that even the law of Britain that had stolen this land had to admit finally admit what we all knew, what Eddie Mabo knew. Commemorating Mabo Day - Reconciliation Australia Speech to the Native Title Conference celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Mabo High Court decision 6 June 2012. . Eddie Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander activist. 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 acknowledge Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander People as the first inhabitants of the nation, and acknowledge Traditional Custodians of the Australian lands where our staff and students live, learn and work. It goes on to mention the yet unfulfilled nature of redress through a social justice package that I alluded to earlier: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been progressively dispossessed of their lands. Transcript 40979 | PM Transcripts "I think that like many others, I was trying to deal with something that was new, that was undefined," Kennett told The Age newspaper. That word is emblazoned still at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of the Old Parliament House in Canberra. Mabo vs QLD - Stories from the Archives Eddie Koiki Mabo and the Mabo Case | naa.gov.au Mabo Collection | National Library of Australia Mabo : Working with Indigenous Australians 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. 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). But who was Eddie Mabo, why did he take up what must have seemed like a hopeless cause and what is the legacy of his campaign? [3] N Pearson in The Australian, Property rights will help economical development of Indigenous Australians, 22 May 2015. 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. Mabo rejected the more militant direct action tactics of the land rights movement, seeing the most important goal as being to destroy the legal justification for what he regarded as land theft. Eddie's daughter, Gail Mabo remembers that day well. 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. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of limited native title. There will be many words between now and then. B12 of 1982 in the High Court of Australia). 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. While he believed the Murray Island belonged to the Torres Strait Islander people, Australian law stated that the Government owned the land. But 20 years after the judgement, there's still a debate among constitutionalists, lawyers and politicians about the legacy of Mabo. Ten years before, Eddie Koiki Mabo and his comrades started the legal battle for the recognition of the Meriam people and the ownership of Mer Island. He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. 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. Uncle Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo. Eddie Mabo was a staff member at JCU, working as a groundsman from 1967 to 1971. Transcript notes - MABO, Eddie, RICE, James v State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia, ITM1641344 Milosz wrote into the horror of the 20th century as he saw war all around him. 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. Indigenous Speeches: Exploration of the Mabo Case, Stolen | Bartleby He knew about hope and he knew about justice. They ruled that the Mabo decision in no way challenges the legality of non-Aboriginal land tenure. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. Here we are 30 years later, still on that journey. In New South Wales, the most populous state, Aboriginal people have title over only 0.1% of the land. A culture and a people facing devastation. Eddie Mabo was a great hero to the Australian people. The justices spoke of a legacy of "unutterable shame"and that the dispossession of Indigenous people was the darkest aspect of Australia's history. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Marine Science, Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre, Association of Australian University Secretaries, Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group, Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, Foundation for Australian Literary Studies, IERC Administration and Centre Operations, Torres Strait Islander Research to Policy & Practice Hub, Meriba buay ngalpan wakaythoemamay (We come together to share our thinking), Knowledge Integration for Torres Strait Sustainability: Sey boey wara goeygil nabi yangukudupa, Office of the Vice Chancellor and President, Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease, Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine, Recognition, national identity and our future. 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. A world turning. Justice Blackburn ruled Australia was indeed a "settled colony", that this was"desert and uncultivated". Mabo decision | National Museum of Australia To make agreements. Mabo/The Man/Justice Moynihan's Findings Words speak across tongues. 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. Edward Koiki Mabo was born on 29 June 1936. Rejected at each turn. Eddie Mabo knew about love too. On November 16, 1990, after a year of considering the facts of the case, Justice Moynihan delivered his written findings to the High Court of Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice, Copyright Australian Human Rights Commission, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/JlIndigP/2014/33.pdf, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/property-rights-will-help-economic-development-of-indigenous-australians/story-e6frg6z6-1227365821530, https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/social_justice_native_title_report_2013.pdf, http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/native-title-report-2008, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/RealizingaVisionforTransformativeDevelopment.aspx, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRCRefJl/2009/15.html#FootnoteB6, http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components#a, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf. Gail Mabo and Prime Minister Tony Abbott during their visit to the grave of Eddie Mabo on Mer Island. Other forms of recognition have been added. Mabo gained an education, became an activist for black rights and worked with his community to make sure Aboriginal children had their own schools. In fact, the court went to considerable lengths to establish that the impact of its judgment will be minimal on non-Aboriginal Australians. He was another victim of Terra Nullius, like so many of his fellow indigenous people had been before him.