Biography base eddie mabo decision

Close menu Indigenous. Continue to indigenous. Eddie Mabo, the man behind Mabo Day 02 June Community Mer Murray Island. Death of Eddie's father. James Cook University. The Queensland court case. The High Court's decision. Aftermath of the decision. Return to the lesson. What do you need help with? Download ready-to-use digital learning resources.

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Log out Edit. He would sit in on lectures. He would go to the library and read books, particularly those written by white anthropologists about his people. In , this culminated in a discussion he had with with Professor Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, who recalled Eddie Mabo's reaction as follows, " Henry and I realised that in his mind he thought he owned that land, so we sort of glanced at each other, and then had the difficult responsibility of telling him that he didn't own that land, and that it was Crown land.

Koiki was surprised, shocked and even I remember him saying 'No way, it's not theirs, it's ours. The significance of this in terms of Australian common law doctrine was not missed by one of the attendees, a lawyer, who suggested there should be a test case to claim land rights through the court system. The Murray Islanders decided they would be the ones to challenge the legal principle of terra nullius in the High Court and that Eddie Koiki Mabo would be the one to lead that action.

Koiki died just months before the High Court reached a decision. Supplied: Jim McEwan. In , six of seven High Court judges found the Meriam people had traditional rights to their land — and in doing so, the court found that native title existed for all Indigenous people. Hearing the High Court verdict was a bittersweet moment for the Mabo family, because Koiki had died just months before it was handed down.

Gail Mabo heard news of the decision in the car on ABC radio, and as the bulletin went to air, she recalls the heavens opened above her. That was the proudest moment. About kilometres north of Cairns sits the small remote community of Mer Murray Island in the crystal blue waters of the Torres Strait. These are the traditional lands and waters of the Meriam people, and the final resting place of Eddie Mabo in Las Village.

Biography base eddie mabo decision

Mer Island sits about km north of Cairns. Brodie Rocca. The island is now home to a modern-day fight to preserve his legacy, led by Mabo's grandson, Kaleb Mabo.