He knew about hope and he knew about justice. One of the people who attended the conference, a lawyer, suggested they should make a case to claim land rights through the court system. "I think that like many others, I was trying to deal with something that was new, that was undefined," Kennett told The Age newspaper. But 20 years after the judgement, there's still a debate among constitutionalists, lawyers and politicians about the legacy of Mabo. Justice John Willis said: "In Australia it is the colonists not the Aborigines are the foreigners.". Older articles are being reviewed with a view to bringing them into line with contemporary values but the original text will remain available for historical context. It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. For Indigenous peoples around the world, the Declaration has been a means by which they can free themselves from the shackles of colonialism and share equitably in the benefits of development.[8]. Born in 1936, he grew up in the village of Las on the north bend of Mer Island. 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. 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. He knew about hope and he knew about justice. It is clear that we have seen a change in momentum as far as this space is concerned. Promoting Indigenous peoples right to development. 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. 2017 presentation by Professor Megan Davis, Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous, University of New South Wales. Eternal. I was no lawyerbut I knew I sensed this was different. Legacy of Eddie Mabo. At http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf (viewed 9 June 2015). Eddie Mabo had challenged the very ideological establishment of Australia and the first Australians. And he was right. We all know about the legacy of native title left by Meriam and Murray Islanders Edward Koiki Mabo, David Passi and James Rice. 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. I also acknowledge Meriam PBC Chair Mr Doug Passi. "He became a driven man," says his friend and documentary maker, Trevor Graham. It is this issue of development that I will explore later in greater detail. The "fallacy" that Perkins speaks of is the concept of Terra Nullius, land belonging to no-one. Topics are usually less than 2 minutes long. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.. But it was a bittersweet moment for the indigenous population. They ruled that the Mabo decision in no way challenges the legality of non-Aboriginal land tenure. Mr Mabo died in 1992 just months before his 10-year legal battle for native title rights proved successful. 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. It is clear that the current system has not delivered what had initially been intended to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aunty Clara Ogleby, I begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Kuku Yalanji people, Traditional Owners of the place upon which we sit and talk today. During this time he became involved in community and political organisations, such as the union movement and the 1967 Referendum campaign. Mabo 20 years on: did it change the nation? I have previously spoken at length about the importance of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which contains 46 articles on the rights that Indigenous peoples all around the world hold. 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. HOST: Today is Mabo Day. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The issue of compensation goes to the core of the initial intent of addressing the historical dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from their lands and waters. [7] OHCHR Website, Essays in Commemoration of 25 years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development. Overwhelmingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have indicated that it is time for a new process of engagement to occur with the government on the topic of our rights after native title. The Mabo decision was handed down on June 3, 1992 in the High Court's grand courtroom in Canberra. I must say though, that beyond economic development, effective governance is critical to ensuring that our organisations are transparent and accountable to our communities and this is one challenge to which we must rise. Eddie Koiki Mabo: A Meriam man, husband to Bonita Mabo and father to 10 children. British law was the law of the colony and usurped and superseded Aboriginal law. Thank you Russell for your kind words of introduction. Participants identified that we need to start considering the role of the financial services industry, as well as agencies such as Indigenous Business Australia and the Indigenous Land Corporation in the context of our economic development. 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. Mabo v Queensland (No 1) was heard in 1986and 1988. Mabo's love for his homeland drove the proud Torres Strait Islander to undertake a 10- year legal battle that rewrote Australia's history. This dispossession occurred largely without compensation, and successive governments have failed to reach a lasting and equitable agreement with Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders concerning the use of their lands.[12]. The nation remained diminished. 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 issue of compensation for unfinished business was another key theme of the Roundtable. The Mabo Case Eddie Mabo is widely known for his plight to regain land rights for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Read about our approach to external linking. In 1974, he became involved in a discussion with two academics. I walked into the news meeting at the ABC with words. The assumptions were quite erroneous, of course, but Terra Nullius was set in unshakeable motion and stayed rooted in place for two hundred years, even though Aborigines had been in Australia for at least 40,000 years. But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. Following his speech, he was approached by a lawyer, who asked if he'd be interested in taking the Australian Government to court to finally decide who owned the land. 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. Eddie Koiki Mabo died of cancer on 21 January 1991, before the case was resolved. Transcript ID: 3849. : he world to possession and I emfphasise Opossessions AAP. Eddie Mabo at James Cook University, early 1980s Series 8. Realising these aspirations, is key to our economic development and prosperity as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples where our land is our ultimate asset. 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. I think much of the dialogue on this issue in Australia has revolved around how to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from development as opposed to how to realize our rights to development and the associated benefits that come with it. They reflect the period in which they were created and are not the views of the National Archives. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. They can raise us to anger then soothe us. 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. (2012 lecture transcript), 2011 Presentation by Mr Mick Gooda, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. [6] UN Declaration on the Right to Development, Article 1, para 1. But alongside . Without this foundation, there would be no opportunity for us to access these rights through this unique form of land tenure. What is this Eddie Mabo Biography Worksheet? 2006 Presentation by Professor Larissa Behrendt. Choose from the list of topics on the left and then choose 'Click to Play'. The Court also recognised that all Indigenous people in Australia have rights to their land. The Mabo case Records relating to the Mabo case About Eddie Mabo Edward Koiki Mabo was born on 29 June 1936. Today in the midst of winter there is still smoke from a campfire, framing a word spelled out on the lawn: Sovereignty. Document: 00003849.pdf 1 Page(s) Speech at the Gurindji Land Ceremony. You can find it still, somewhere buried in the archives of ABC News. It's the anniversary of a court decision that recognized for . 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. At: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/social_justice_native_title_report_2013.pdf (viewed 5 June 2015), [5] T Calma, Native Title Report 2008, Australian Human Rights Commission (2009), p 46. Vincent Lingiari and men and women of the Gurindji people. Speech to the Native Title Conference celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Mabo High Court decision 6 June 2012. . He's recorded as saying: "No way, it's not theirs, it's ours." Whilst the case did little to clarify the legal principles around calculating compensation, it is one example of the positive realization after many years, of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to land and waters within the native title system. 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. This Declaration on the Right to Development was adopted by the General Assembly in 1986. In one, the presiding judge said the mere introduction of British law did not extinguish Aboriginal customary law. "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. In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. A discussion of Mabo Day (June 3), which commemorates Torres Strait Islander activist Eddie Koiki Mabo and the historic Mabo decision, in which the High Court of Australia acknowledged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' land rights. Across language itself. 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. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty., "This is the torment of our powerlessness.". This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or "mother nature", and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. 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. But he was wrong. We know sadness. Australia owes you a great debt. The new conversation that we need to be having around our rights to land and resources has been captured in the thematic areas I have just spoken about. Of invasion. . Eddie Koiki Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander, known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for the landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius ('land belonging to nothing, no one') which characterised Australian law with regards to land and title. This was not empty land. 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. The golden house of is of culture and connection, of blood and dreaming, of time immemorial how the golden house of is collapses. In 2014, Australia ranked second after Norway, in the United Nations Human Development Index,[9] a position that would seem to indicate that we all enjoy a quality of life superior to most others in the world. Our News Eddie's daughter, Gail Mabo remembers that day well. (2013 lecture transcript), 2012 Presentation by Professor Henry Reynolds. 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. More Information .We are closed in a box. 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. 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. Words makaratta. Australian law for two centuries hid the truth behind words. Aboriginal Australians are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark victory over land rights. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that the National Archives' website and collection contain the names, images and voices of people who have died. In the Shire of . 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]. Elders saythe wateris now a battleground. It was suggested that we, as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, needed to think outside of the box when it comes to this issue. "It gave us back our pride. This led to the subsequent High Court case, Mabo v Queensland (No 2), which was to determine the matter of the plaintiffs' land rights. the belief that Australia and its islands belonged to no-one when claimed by the British in 1770) in a landmark court . It is lament. He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. A world turning. The judge's four hundred page report presented Mabo and his barristers with a bombshell which threatened to sink their case. That was Eddie Mabos gift. 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. In my tribute to Rob, I mentioned how losing that fight for national land rights lit the fires for what was to become the fight for native title led by Eddie, with Rob being part of the leadership that negotiated the Native Title Act through the national parliament to give legislative effect to the High Court decision championed by Eddie. When democracy is teetering and autocracy is rising. Rejected at each turn. In fact, the court went to considerable lengths to establish that the impact of its judgment will be minimal on non-Aboriginal Australians. A culture and a people facing devastation. However, the social justice package, which was meant to address compensation for the dispossession of land and the dispersal of the Indigenous population remains unfulfilled.[4]. 3. Business development support and succession planning. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. And he knew truth. We need to work alongside government to equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills to turn the economic and commercial aspirations into reality. Searching for 'Mabo' in RecordSearch brings up many results, including the files below. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Eddie Mabo (left) and . [9] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report. Friendship with Eddie Mabo. In Torres Strait Islands called the Mabo case, for Eddie Mabo, the first-named plaintiff) brought by several individuals that was won in the High Court of Australia in 1992; subsequent cases were also settled in favour of other groups of islanders. Text 1936 Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision . Mabo's credibility as the primary witness for the case was savaged . Mabo - as in Eddie Mabo, who famously fought a winning fight against the legal doctrine of terra nullius to enshrine Aboriginal land rights in law - is referenced on two occasions. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. 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. On 3 June 1992, six of the seven High Court judges upheld the claim and ruled that the lands of . I stand here proud to bring a message from my Elders. Our people know han. That is the view most widely endorsed by history. 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. He would later describe his time on the island as 'the best time of my life'1. How might this case shatter the myth of terra nullius? This is our land. Six weeks later his father died. Mabo, Edward Koiki (Eddie) (1936-1992) . Mabo and others: products or agents of progress? 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 commitment to a land fund; and importantly, participation in decision-making underpinned by the concept of free, prior and informed consent and good faith. Fungibility and native title. 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. 2008 Presentation by The Hon. The High Court is the highest court in Australia's judicial system. They both endured early hard lives that steeled them for the struggles that would eventually come their way. The great polish poetCzeslawMilosz said perhaps all memory is the memory of wounds. Together yindyamarra winanghanha means to live with respect in a world worth living in. In going down this track we have to understand and have to get these institutions to understand that there is a fair dinkum business case for doing this because we have had enough of welfare and charity. Importantly, development is also a process through which other human rights can be realized and our wellbeing alongside all other populations is maximised. To sign treaties. 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. Eddie Mabo's dream had come true; a meeting of minds to address the issue of Aboriginal land . 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. Gail Mabo and Prime Minister Tony Abbott during their visit to the grave of Eddie Mabo on Mer Island. Words like han. Of law. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of limited native title. He told them of his dream of ending his days on Murray Island, on the ancestral land that had been handed down through his family for 15 generations. He knew about suffering. Governance has always been at the core of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and our community life. Short for Mabo and others v Queensland (No 2) (1992), the Mabo case, led by Eddie Koiki Mabo, an activist for the 1967 Referendum, fought the legal concept that Australia and the Torres Strait Islands were not owned by Indigenous peoples because they did not 'use' the land in ways Europeans believed constituted some kind of legal possession. This effectively overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, which held that Australia didn't belong to anybody before European colonisation. Nor did the judges intend that it should. About 800 kilometers north of Cairns sits the small remote community of Mer (Murray) Island in the crystal blue waters of the Torres Strait. You Murray Islanders have won that court case. On 21 May 2008, James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. This needs to change. Edward Koiki Mabo ( n Sambo; 29 June 1936 - 21 January 1992) was an Indigenous Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights in Australia, in particular the landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that recognised that indigenous rights to land had continued after the British 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. As Eddie Mabo sketched out his plans to shake the foundations of Australian law, he told his daughter his prophecy: "One day, all of Australia will know my name." 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. Reynolds struck up a friendship with Eddie Mabo, who was then a groundsman and gardener at James Cook University. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today. 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. Some records include terms and views that are not appropriate today. The world of becoming ascends. Volume 1 (227pp), Volume 2 (58pp). 1h 43m. 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. The National Archives holds a diverse array of records relating to the Mabo case. In New South Wales, the most populous state, Aboriginal people have title over only 0.1% of the land. 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. Importantly, the Roundtable highlighted that despite previous promises around compensation for historical dispossession, this has not yet materialized. The second key theme that was raised at the roundtable was the issue of financing economic development within the Indigenous estate. However, contemporary Indigenous governance needs recognises that we must now adjust our customary ways of governing to meet the expectations and regulations of non-indigenous laws and institutions. 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. It clearly did not, for instance, lead to vast numbers of white Australians being forced from their homes, businesses, mines or farms. 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. This case, I said thisman Mabo will change Australia. He petitioned, campaigned, cajoled and questioned Terra Nullius for 18 years. Then, in June 1992, the years of sacrifice and persuasion came to fruition. Love, kindness, forgiveness; always love. To seek justice we had to speak the words of British law.
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