(2011 lecture transcript), 2010 Presentation by Professor Chris Sarra. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.. That permission was denied. 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. 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. I like words. Transcript notes - MABO, Eddie, RICE, James v State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia, ITM1641344 Australia owes you a great debt. Yindyamarra is respect: It is quiet, it is humble. 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. Words makaratta. Eternal. I also acknowledge the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion who is here today and my colleague Tim Wilson, our Australian Human Rights Commissioner. Eddie Koiki Mabo at Las, Murray Island, 1989 On 3 June 1992 the High Court of Australia recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, held ownership of Mer (Murray Island). Our people know han. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of limited native title. Eddie Mabo's dream had come true; a meeting of minds to address the issue of Aboriginal land . A clear theme from the Broome Roundtable revealed a common frustration among many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I also acknowledge Meriam PBC Chair Mr Doug Passi. During this time he enrolled as a student and studied teaching at the College of Advanced Education, which later amalgamated with JCU. 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. A while back I read a business management book by an American, Leon C. Megginson. 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. Can I be indulgent and add a couple of others. It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. 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. Overwhelmingly, what participants told us at the Roundtable was that whilst there had been an expansion of the Indigenous estate since the commencement of the Native Title Act that it largely has not delivered sustainable outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It's the anniversary of a court decision that recognized for . At http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf (viewed 9 June 2015). The judge's four hundred page report presented Mabo and his barristers with a bombshell which threatened to sink their case. They both endured early hard lives that steeled them for the struggles that would eventually come their way. 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. I walked into the news meeting at the ABC with words. 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]. 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. To build a world worth living in. It clearly did not, for instance, lead to vast numbers of white Australians being forced from their homes, businesses, mines or farms. 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. This was not empty land. I believe that it is this framework that has the power to elevate the aspirations that we have as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in relation to land. 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. That word is emblazoned still at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of the Old Parliament House in Canberra. 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. 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. He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. Mr Mabo died in 1992 just months before his 10-year legal battle for native title rights proved successful. 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. Mabo and others: products or agents of progress? 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. 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.". Eddie Mabo's heritage and culture were major influencers in his rise to prominence. People gathered this week in Townsville, Queensland, to remember a seminal moment in the nation's history, and the efforts of one man to bring it about. 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. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today. Mabo tells the story of one of Australia's national heroes - Eddie Koiki Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander man who left school at age 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that overthrew the fiction of terra nullius. 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. He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. . And that is the cost to both men and their families. The Mabo decision What is the Mabo decision? 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. 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. We cannot cross the same stream twice. This needs to change. (2014 lecture transcript), 2013 Presentation by Dr Bryan Keon-Cohen QC. These adjustments are key if we are to translate our inherent legal rights under native title into sustainable opportunities for our people. These often hamper the development and economic aspirations of the communities involved right from the start. This could also be translated as greater Indigenous control over our lands and resources more generally, and a decrease in the burden placed on Indigenous landholders as I have mentioned earlier today by government and other industries. Eddie Mabo and Gerard Brennan overturned the terra nullius policy and changed Australia forever. Winanghanha is to return to knowing: to know what we have always known. As this brave mans voice even as he had passed was heard by another man who is now gone and together they changed us. Eddie Koiki Mabo: A Meriam man, husband to Bonita Mabo and father to 10 children. 2008 Presentation by The Hon. AAP. That's why the legal decision is universally known as "Mabo". Mabo Day is an official holiday in the Torres Shire, celebrated on 3 June. We go on, he said, ever, ever, ever on. 2019. The practical effects of Mabo have, indeed, been mixed, judging by figures from the Koori Mail, a national indigenous-owned newspaper. There will be many words between now and then. Six weeks later his father died. Fungibility and native title. 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. That is, how do we build on the underlying communal title to create options for our economic development? Mabo, Edward Koiki (Eddie) (1936-1992) . The great polish poetCzeslawMilosz said perhaps all memory is the memory of wounds. And he knew truth. It contains just 10 articles on what the instrument describes as an, inalienable right, by which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised.[6]. Make an Impact. (No. The world of becoming ascends. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. 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. In 1959, he moved to mainland Queensland, working on pearling vessels and as a labourer. . 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". Governance has always been at the core of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and our community life. Aboriginal Australians are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark victory over land rights. Our landsings gently a song of sadness. "The rights he won in the High Court have been eroded away by government, courts and socio-economic pressure.". Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision . Keating begins by discussing the moral and legal implications of the decision. To Eddie Koiki Mabo and chief justice Sir Gerard Brennan. 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]. 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. 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. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from "time immemorial", and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. This is our land. 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. 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. This will always be our land. This was apartheid in Australia, not South Africa. 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. Importantly, development is also a process through which other human rights can be realized and our wellbeing alongside all other populations is maximised. JCU websites use cookies to enhance user experience, analyse site usage, and assist with outreach and enrolment. On 3 June 1992, six of the seven High Court judges upheld the claim and ruled that the lands of . This led to the subsequent High Court case, Mabo v Queensland (No 2), which was to determine the matter of the plaintiffs' land rights. That is the view most widely endorsed by history. 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. But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. Importantly, the Roundtable highlighted that despite previous promises around compensation for historical dispossession, this has not yet materialized. Rejected at each turn. Typical of such awards, the citations are generally understated and this is particularly so in your case. For significant service to the community as a cultural leader and public sector executive in the field of Indigenous affairs.. 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. It is sadness beyond the word sadness itself. 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. He was, if you like, an Australian Nelson Mandela, someone who led his people in a struggle against incalculable odds, to what was rightfully theirs. OM95-26 Mabo Cutting Books 1990-1994 - (2 vols.) Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? : he world to possession and I emfphasise Opossessions 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 share. His mother died during childbirth and he was raised by his mother's brother, Benny Mabo . "He became a driven man," says his friend and documentary maker, Trevor Graham. HOST: Today is Mabo Day. Our News 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. 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 . 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. 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. In May 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait began action in the High Court of Australia seeking confirmation of their traditional land rights. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? And he was right. 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. Transcript. "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 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. Land claim, 1981-1992 In 1981, at a conference on indigenous land rights in Townsville, a decision was made to pursue a native land title claim for the people of the Murray Islands in the High Court of Australia. Mabo Day occurs annually in Australia on 3rd June. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Science and Innovation. "It gave us back our pride. First, they ask me to pass on their greetings and their thanks for allowing me on your lands. While he believed the Murray Island belonged to the Torres Strait Islander people, Australian law stated that the Government owned the land. Ten years later, he conceded his fears were unfounded. Watch all your favourite ABC programs on ABC iview. 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 . Eddie Mabo knew about love too. Eddie Mabo was a great hero to the Australian people. Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. [1] J Altman., (2014) Scullion Peddles pipedream reforms, Journal of Indigenous Policy, At: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/JlIndigP/2014/33.pdf (viewed 5 June 2015). 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". 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 Across language itself. [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992. The theme of this years conference is Leadership, Legacy and Opportunity. (Transcript), 2014 Presentation byMs Shannan Dodson, Digital Campaign Manager, Recognise Australia. . Indigenous Education and Research Centre Words like han. 2004 Presentation by Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO. But it was a bittersweet moment for the indigenous population. The truth: This was his land. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this site may contain names, images or voices of people who have passed away. SPEECH - THURSDAY, 3 JUNE . To seek justice we had to speak the words of British law. 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 truth: This was his land. Gail Mabo and Prime Minister Tony Abbott during their visit to the grave of Eddie Mabo on Mer Island. On Monday, he laid a wreath on Mr Mabo's grave on Mer Island. 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. 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. 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 . And he knew truth. Tenacity, fearlessness, fearsome, tireless are some of the words that come to mind when the names Rob Riley and Eddie Mabo are mentioned. Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. And he was right. Eddie Mabo had challenged the very ideological establishment of Australia and the first Australians. Judged by any civilised standard, such a law is unjust ". But the . 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. Other cases persisted. 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. The golden house of is collapses and the world of becoming ascended.". How might this case shatter the myth of terra nullius? Australian law for two centuries hid the truth behind words. The Mabo case Records relating to the Mabo case About Eddie Mabo Edward Koiki Mabo was born on 29 June 1936. 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. 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. 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. "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.". 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. In a snapshot. In one, the presiding judge said the mere introduction of British law did not extinguish Aboriginal customary law. This is yet another reason why a development approach is so urgently needed. 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. However, it also raised equally relevant issues around the many state and local government land taxes and rates that apply once conversion has taken place. Han is Korean and it is more than a word. The victory was largely down to one indigenous man called Eddie Mabo. Justice Blackburn ruled Australia was indeed a "settled colony", that this was"desert and uncultivated". Words. This effectively overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, which held that Australia didn't belong to anybody before European colonisation. It is a feeling. 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 . But alongside . 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. A Yolngu word meaning to come together after a struggle. His mother passed away shortly after his birth and he was adopted by his Uncle Benny and Aunty Maigo Mabo in line with Islander custom. Eddie Koiki Mabo died of cancer on 21 January 1991, before the case was resolved. Some records include terms and views that are not appropriate today. It is lament. In-text: (Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision, 2019) Your Bibliography: Time Out Sydney. 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. 3. Business development support and succession planning. (2010 lecture transcript). 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. Unlike them, however, Mabo wasn't going to accept it. They ruled that the Mabo decision in no way challenges the legality of non-Aboriginal land tenure. He was another victim of Terra Nullius, like so many of his fellow indigenous people had been before him. In New South Wales, the most populous state, Aboriginal people have title over only 0.1% of the land. This activity encourages children to write down their knowledge in a structured report . 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.