B12 of 1982 in the High Court of Australia). Promoting Indigenous peoples right to development. Uncle Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo. 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. 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. It was on 3 June 1992 that the Australian High Court overturned more than 200 years of white domination of land ownership. The legal decision was made by the High Court on 3 June 1992. He's recorded as saying: "No way, it's not theirs, it's ours." But he was wrong. In that book he argued, contrary to theories of Charles Darwin, that it was not the fittest or the strongest nor the smartest that survive but those who can manage change, that is it is the most adaptable who survive. "I think that like many others, I was trying to deal with something that was new, that was undefined," Kennett told The Age newspaper. Transcript notes - MABO, Eddie, RICE, James v State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia, ITM1641344 These often hamper the development and economic aspirations of the communities involved right from the start. During this time he enrolled as a student and studied teaching at the College of Advanced Education, which later amalgamated with JCU. "If ever a system could be called a government of laws," he said, "it is shown in the evidence before me.". 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. I want to give two words from my people, Wiradjuri. The memory of wounds. This was not empty land. He was right. Rob was at the forefront of the fight for land in Western Australia, particularly at Nookanbah and when the WA Government led the resistance to national land rights legislation. 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. 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. Birthdays, anniversaries, sports events and special schools days were missed. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. 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. But the . But he was wrong. More Information .We are closed in a box. Mabo and others: products or agents of progress? Justice Blackburn ruled Australia was indeed a "settled colony", that this was"desert and uncultivated". 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". He knew about hope and he knew about justice. 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. They then said to tell you they are aware of your continued fight for your culture and your country and salute you for your ongoing struggle. (2011 lecture transcript), 2010 Presentation by Professor Chris Sarra. On 21 May 2008, James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. We know sadness. The victory was largely down to one indigenous man called Eddie Mabo. One of the people who attended the conference, a lawyer, suggested they should make a case to claim land rights through the court system. 2006 Presentation by Professor Larissa Behrendt. Read about our approach to external linking. : he world to possession and I emfphasise Opossessions 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 is yet another reason why a development approach is so urgently needed. That's why the legal decision is universally known as "Mabo". Love, kindness, forgiveness; always love. Rejected at each turn. He had refused to surrender his interests, or those of his people, to the domination of others. When democracy is teetering and autocracy is rising. JCU websites use cookies to enhance user experience, analyse site usage, and assist with outreach and enrolment. 5. JCU celebrates the history-making Mabo decision with the long establishedEddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series, an annual public commemorative presentation by a prominent person who has made a significant contribution to contemporary Australian society. Across language itself. This will always be our land. I was no lawyerbut I knew I sensed this was different. 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. The Mabo decision was a legal case held in 1992. The preamble to the Native Title Act makes it clear that the objectives of the legislation are to: rectify the consequences of past injustices by the special measures contained in the Act to ensure that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders receive the full recognition and status within the Australian nation to which history, their prior rights and interests, and their rich and diverse culture, fully entitle them to aspire.[11]. Yindyamarra is respect: It is quiet, it is humble. SPEECH - THURSDAY, 3 JUNE . 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. 10. And it was this; hardly any compensation has come our way despite all of the fear mongering over the years about the rivers of compensation that would flow from the realization of our rights under land rights and native title. Bryan Keon-Cohen was one of Eddie Mabo's barristers, and he gave a speech at Mabo's funderal in Townsville in Feb 1992 - he said: 'I confine myself here . 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. Eddie Mabo would not live to see his final victory, but in that judgement he became immortal. The fall of the golden house of is but not the end. 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. He is best known for the two court cases that bear his name, Mabo v. Queensland (numbers 1 and 2). This activity encourages children to write down their knowledge in a structured report . On 3 June 1992, six of seven Australian High Court judges ruled: The Meriam people are entitled as against the whole world to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray Islands [in Torres Strait]. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty., "This is the torment of our powerlessness.". "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 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. Reynolds struck up a friendship with Eddie Mabo, who was then a groundsman and gardener at James Cook University. This will always be our land. He petitioned, campaigned, cajoled and questioned Terra Nullius for 18 years. At: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/RealizingaVisionforTransformativeDevelopment.aspx (viewed 9 June 2015), [8] N Collings, Native title, economic development and the environment, Australian Law Reform Commission Journal 15, 2009. He spoke of impermanence: He knew things did not last and yet we do. He married Bonita, his teenage sweetheart and with whom he had 10 children in a loving partnership that lasted 30 years. 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 the Shire of . Credit: Alex Ellinghausen No wonder Mr Abbott was visibly moved as he thanked "Aunty Gail" for . Eddie Mabo of Mer island in the Torres Strait spent a decade seeking official recognition of his people's ownership of Mer and on 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia agreed, rejecting the doctrine that Australia was terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) at the time of European settlement. He knew about suffering. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.. In August 1981 Mabo attended a conference on land rights at James Cook University. 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. 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. But that hasn't stopped indigenous people, like Queensland elder Douglas Bon, taking great satisfaction in the ruling. Eddie Mabo was a staff member at JCU, working as a groundsman from 1967 to 1971. Of law. A while back I read a business management book by an American, Leon C. Megginson. 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. Mabo 20 years on: did it change the nation? Six weeks later his father died. To seek justice we had to speak the words of British law. In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. Nor did the judges intend that it should. Can I be indulgent and add a couple of others. Han is Korean and it is more than a word. "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. 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. 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. 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. Reynolds writes: The decision. At: http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components#a (viewed 9 June 2015). 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.". 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. Judged by any civilised standard, such a law is unjust ". Drama Biopic Inspiring. Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. Edward 'Koiki' Mabo (1936-1992), Torres Strait Islander community leader and land rights campaigner, was born on 29 June 1936 at Las, on Mer, in the Murray group of islands, Queensland, the fourth surviving child of Murray Islands-born parents 'Robert' Zesou Sambo, seaman, and his wife 'Annie' Poipe, ne Mabo. These skills will enable us to make better and informed decisions for maximum benefit and I look forward, as I am sure you do, to the release of IBAs investment principles, which they are currently developing in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations across the country.
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