This case, I said thisman Mabo will change Australia. Our people know han. It does not create any new rights, but rather reaffirms the rights that exist in many other international treaties and conventions. Our News That permission was denied. Words like han. 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. These adjustments are key if we are to translate our inherent legal rights under native title into sustainable opportunities for our people. Eddie Koiki Mabo: Land Rights in the Torres Strait I would like to first of all express my sincere thanks to the organizers of this conference: in particular the James Cook University Student Union and the Aboriginal Treaty Committee in Townsville for allowing me to speak at this very important conference. 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. Truth. 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. 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. 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. (Transcript), 2014 Presentation byMs Shannan Dodson, Digital Campaign Manager, Recognise Australia. How might this case shatter the myth of terra nullius? In the Shire of . 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". It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. 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. However, whilst the right to development is about improvements in economic and material outcomes, it is also about our rights as Indigenous peoples to self-determination and our rights to control our natural wealth and resources. 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. Australian PM makes historic visit to Mabo's grave - BBC News In 1959, he moved to mainland Queensland, working on pearling vessels and as a labourer. (2013 lecture transcript), 2012 Presentation by Professor Henry Reynolds. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource and resource page may contain the image, name or voice of deceased persons. [10] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report, p237. 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. Mabo died five months earlier from cancer in January 1992, at the age of 55. When I looked over the lives of these two great Australians I was struck by the similarities of their struggles and the qualities they each . With support from legal experts, Mabo, along with fellow plaintiffs and Murray Islanders Reverend David Passi, Celuia Mapoo Salee, Sam Passi and James Rice, brought a case against the Queensland Government in the High Court. Mabo, Edward Koiki (Eddie) (1936-1992) . Mabo Day occurs annually in Australia on 3rd June. This needs to change. To build a world worth living in. Our landsings gently a song of sadness. 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. Yindyamarra winanghanha. A world turning. Mabo's credibility as the primary witness for the case was savaged . 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. 1992 High Court Mabo Case Decision No. 2 | Australia's migration In 1994 the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) was established in response to Read More The "fallacy" that Perkins speaks of is the concept of Terra Nullius, land belonging to no-one. The golden house of is of culture and connection, of blood and dreaming, of time immemorial how the golden house of is collapses. This is our 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. PDF 3 June: a significant date - Reconciliation Australia But he was wrong. And these were the costs borne by the whole family. We will adapt, we will take advantage of these opportunities and we will leave a great legacy. The court dismissed his challenge to Australian sovereignty, but in his opinion Justice Lionel Murphy rattled the bones of the Australian settlement. " On 21 May 2008, James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. 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Volume 3 (146pp). (2012) This program was published 2 years ago. Other forms of recognition have been added. Without this foundation, there would be no opportunity for us to access these rights through this unique form of land tenure. Read about our approach to external linking. The world of becoming ascends. Mabo : ABC iview Elders saythe wateris now a battleground. [9] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report. Vincent Lingiari and men and women of the Gurindji people. 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 1995 - Australian Bureau of Statistics From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. Mabo/The Man/Land Rights Conference Transcript ID: 3849. 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]. The most important revelation arising from Eddie Mabo's claim and the High Court's decision was that an ancient title connected to the traditional occupation of the land by Aboriginal and Islander people had survived the . This was our land. 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. As a nation, this is an improvement from fourth position just over ten years ago in 2003.[10]. We know sadness. The legal decision was made by the High Court on 3 June 1992. Few Australians then knew the name Eddie Mabo. Gail, to your Mum Bonita, to Eddie Junior, Wannee, Bethal, Celuia, Ezra, Mario, Malita, Malcolm, Jessie and to you Gail, can I pay special tribute to for the generosity of you all in giving your husband and Dad to us. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. Eddie Koiki Mabo was an advocate of the 1967 Referendum, fighting for equal rights including education. British law under a British flag. At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/native-title-report-2008 (viewed 5 June 2015). 10. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. 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). 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. The new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, says there will be a referendum to enshrine a voice an Indigenous representative body in the Australian constitution. But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. While he believed the Murray Island belonged to the Torres Strait Islander people, Australian law stated that the Government owned the land. The National Archives holds a diverse array of records relating to the Mabo case. "It gave us back our pride. I stand here proud to bring a message from my Elders. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. Watch. Words. Eddie Mabo was a staff member at JCU, working as a groundsman from 1967 to 1971. 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. Eddie Mabo Biography Worksheet | Australian Resources - Twinkl . 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. 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. We all know about the legacy of native title left by Meriam and Murray Islanders Edward Koiki Mabo, David Passi and James Rice. 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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this site may contain names, images or voices of people who have passed away. Eddie Koiki Mabo presents a guest lecture about the Torres - YouTube I hope that youll share with me the need to move this conversation forward, in order to best realise our rights under native title and the benefits that should follow from that. Australian law for two centuries hid the truth behind words. It was during a stint as a gardener at the James Cook University at Townsville in Queensland, that his eyes were opened to the greatest injustice his people had ever been subjected to. 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. And he was right. "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.". 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 . 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. You can find it still, somewhere buried in the archives of ABC News. 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. In New South Wales, the most populous state, Aboriginal people have title over only 0.1% of the land. 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. Commemorating Mabo Day - Reconciliation Australia [1] Cast [ edit] Jimi Bani as Eddie Mabo Gedor Zaro as Young Eddie Deborah Mailman as Bonita Mabo (ne Neehow) 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. 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. As this brave mans voice even as he had passed was heard by another man who is now gone and together they changed us. 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 . During this time he enrolled as a student and studied teaching at the College of Advanced Education, which later amalgamated with JCU. The man who had engineered the historic change of law, never lived to witness it himself. Up to April 2010, 84 native title cases had been dealt with by the courts, and 854,000 sq km (330,000 sq miles) is now covered by native title determinations. He had refused to surrender his interests, or those of his people, to the domination of others. Promoting Indigenous peoples right to development. At: http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components#a (viewed 9 June 2015). On this great day, I, Prime Minister of Australia, speak to you on behalf of the Australian people all those who honour and love this land we live in. Justice Blackburn ruled Australia was indeed a "settled colony", that this was"desert and uncultivated". 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. Eddie Koiki Sambo was born on June 29, 1936 on the Torres Strait island of Mer, also known as Murray Island. Others, while acknowledging the shortcomings of Mabo's long-term legacy, still regard it as a watershed moment in Australian political, cultural and economic life. Love, kindness, forgiveness; always love. 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 8 th of May in Perth. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture | Australian Human Rights Commission Insight into the significance of Mabo Day for Aboriginal and Torres Importantly, the Roundtable highlighted that despite previous promises around compensation for historical dispossession, this has not yet materialized. eddie began his Journey on changing the rights by Making a speech at a land rights conference at the James Cook University his speech explained the traditional land owners and the inheritance system that . Eddie Mabo was a man of courage and principle who fought for the inherent rights of the Meriam people, and ultimately for the rights of all Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal peoples. Mabo/Eddie Mabo's address to Land Rights Conference, 1981 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. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why half of India's urban women stay at home. The issue of compensation for unfinished business was another key theme of the Roundtable. There was something of destiny in the air. Henry Reynolds (historian) - Wikipedia This was apartheid in Australia, not South Africa. 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. Mabo Day & Native Title: Who was Eddie Mabo & what is his legacy? 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. 2004 Presentation by Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO. The truth: This was his land. AAP. Eddie Mabo had challenged the very ideological establishment of Australia and the first Australians. 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". The Castle: Cheat Sheet | Movie News | SBS Movies It felt in this case that the time had come. Mabo decision | National Museum of Australia HOST: Today is Mabo Day. That nearly a third of our land mass is Indigenous owned is testament to this. However, in the lead-up to these hearings, the Parliament of Queensland passed the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985, which asserted that, upon being annexed by the Queensland Government in 1879, 'the islands were vested in the Crown freed from all other rights, interests and claims'. Across language itself. He knew about suffering. This often presents internal issues for traditional owner groups about how decisions are made and how benefits will be shared and responsibilities exercised. 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. OM95-26 Mabo Cutting Books 1990-1994 - (2 vols.) On 3 June 1992, six of the seven High Court judges upheld the claim and ruled that the lands of . Searching for 'Mabo' in RecordSearch brings up many results, including the files below. Resting Place of Eddie Mabo. You and I know all too well that we live shorter, poorer lives than our non-Aboriginal counterparts. Ten years later, he conceded his fears were unfounded. 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 ! These barriers all prevent us from using our land to enter into the economy from which we can see ourselves and our communities thrive. To strengthen our democracy as Eddie Mabo strengthened our law. 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. Eddie Mabo's dream had come true; a meeting of minds to address the issue of Aboriginal land . 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. "Koiki was ambitious for himself and for his people." 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. Together yindyamarra winanghanha means to live with respect in a world worth living in. Mabo Day is an official holiday in the Torres Shire, celebrated on 3 June. At: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/property-rights-will-help-economic-development-of-indigenous-australians/story-e6frg6z6-1227365821530 (viewed 3 June 2015), [4] T Calma, Native Title Report 2005, Australian Human Rights Commission, 2005, p82. Meriam history and culture were crucial to the success of the Mabo case. The Mabo decision What is the Mabo decision? [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992.