The Declaration incorporates four fundamental human rights principles that can be categorised as: However, the UN Declaration on the Right to Development has been a lesser-known cousin to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That is the view most widely endorsed by history. The 50-minute recording shows Koiki Mabo talking about the history of the Torres Strait Islander community, both in the Torres Strait and on the Australian mainland, and the long term impact on his culture of the coming of Europeans, from the first missionaries to current government administrators. A panel of judges at the High Court ruled that Aboriginal people were the rightful custodians of the land. When democracy is teetering and autocracy is rising. 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. 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. 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. Indigenous Education and Research Centre At 31, this affrontery became his epiphany. . The Court also recognised that all Indigenous people in Australia have rights to their land. It is sadness beyond the word sadness itself. Today in the midst of winter there is still smoke from a campfire, framing a word spelled out on the lawn: Sovereignty. You and I know all too well that we live shorter, poorer lives than our non-Aboriginal counterparts. About 800 kilometers north of Cairns sits the small remote community of Mer (Murray) Island in the crystal blue waters of the Torres Strait. Winanghanha is to return to knowing: to know what we have always known. 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. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today. B12 of 1982 in the High Court of Australia). Well, Australia now stands at a moment of history. That permission was denied. This needs to change. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. "The rights he won in the High Court have been eroded away by government, courts and socio-economic pressure.". But we know that these scales do not capture the social disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. That word is emblazoned still at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of the Old Parliament House in Canberra. 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. 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). At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/native-title-report-2008 (viewed 5 June 2015). 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. Friends we are the First Peoples of this country and we are the oldest living culture in the world because of our ability to adapt to ever changing environments and circumstances. He also co-operated with members of the Communist Party, the only white political party to support Aboriginal campaigns at the time. "It gave us back our pride. Mabo and others: products or agents of progress? The Roundtable was held after there was significant interest on this issue when Commissioner Wilson and I undertook some consultations around the country last year. OM95-26 Mabo Cutting Books 1990-1994 - (2 vols.) 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. Meriam history and culture were crucial to the success of the Mabo case. 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. In a snapshot. The lack of planning and support for native titleholders to economically develop their land was identified as one of the major failings of the native title system. Eddie Koiki Mabo was an advocate of the 1967 Referendum, fighting for equal rights including education. That nearly a third of our land mass is Indigenous owned is testament to this. Hide message. Mabo 20 years on: did it change the nation? "Koiki was ambitious for himself and for his people.". At: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRCRefJl/2009/15.html#FootnoteB6 (viewed 9 June 2015). The Mabo decision was handed down on June 3, 1992 in the High Court's grand courtroom in Canberra. He was another victim of Terra Nullius, like so many of his fellow indigenous people had been before him. Stan Grant is the ABC's international affairs analyst and presents China Tonight on Monday at 9:35pm on ABC TV, and Tuesday at 8pm on the ABC News Channel, anda co-presenter of Q+A on Thursday at 8:30pm. In acknowledging the traditional rights of the Meriam people to their land, the court also held that native title existed for all Indigenous people. (2012) This program was published 2 years ago. I also acknowledge Meriam PBC Chair Mr Doug Passi. To strengthen our democracy as Eddie Mabo strengthened our law. And in some cases native title had become a millstone, almost drowning people in a sea of regulation, red tape and process without any semblance of necessary support. Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Series. These often hamper the development and economic aspirations of the communities involved right from the start. Eddie Koiki Sambo was born on June 29, 1936 on the Torres Strait island of Mer, also known as Murray Island. Here we are 30 years later, still on that journey. 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. 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. It remains a collection of canvas and tin, but it has grown in those years since a handful of young Aboriginal activists planted a beach umbrella and wrote the word Embassy on a manila folder, to shake a fist at the power on the hill. As Kevin Mason divedin the ocean, a compliance officer waswatching on the cliffs above. My predecessor Dr Tom Calma explained the impact of never implementing a social justice package in 2008: this abyss is one of the underlying reasons why the native title system is under the strain it is under today[5]. Tenacity, fearlessness, fearsome, tireless are some of the words that come to mind when the names Rob Riley and Eddie Mabo are mentioned. The golden house of is collapses and the world of becoming ascended.". We cannot cross the same stream twice. 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. To Eddie Koiki Mabo and chief justice Sir Gerard Brennan. Please join with me in acknowledging the life long accomplishments of Russell Taylor. 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. Topics are usually less than 2 minutes long. [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992. Choose from the list of topics on the left and then choose 'Click to Play'. And he was right. Uncle Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo. Eddie Koiki Mabo: A Meriam man, husband to Bonita Mabo and father to 10 children. Read about our approach to external linking. In fact, the court went to considerable lengths to establish that the impact of its judgment will be minimal on non-Aboriginal Australians. In 1959, he moved to mainland Queensland, working on pearling vessels and as a labourer. 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. He had refused to surrender his interests, or those of his people, to the domination of others. Later in 1992, Mabo was posthumously awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal. Two generations talk about the impact of the 1967 Referendum and the 1992 Mabo Decision . 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. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen No wonder Mr Abbott was visibly moved as he thanked "Aunty Gail" for . Family gatherings were foregone. Mabo v Queensland (No 1) was heard in 1986and 1988. The theme of this years conference is Leadership, Legacy and Opportunity. And he knew truth. He petitioned, campaigned, cajoled and questioned Terra Nullius for 18 years. In some ways our systems of governance is a defining feature of the oldest living culture on this planet. The new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, says there will be a referendum to enshrine a voice an Indigenous representative body in the Australian constitution. 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. The Roundtable included a diverse range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with nearly 50 people in total from as far and wide as the Torres Straits, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Sydney, the Kimberley and Darwin. He is best known for the two court cases that bear his name, Mabo v. Queensland (numbers 1 and 2). "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.". Mabo made a speech to the audience where he explained the indigenous customary land inheritance system on Murray Island. 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. The Mabo decision What is the Mabo decision? You can find it still, somewhere buried in the archives of ABC News. Eddie Mabo wanted to change the law of Terra Nullius and claim the Aboriginal people as the original owners of the land this would change social and political views of the aboriginal people. "He became a driven man," says his friend and documentary maker, Trevor Graham. This is our land. Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. I want to give two words from my people, Wiradjuri. The justices spoke of a legacy of "unutterable shame"and that the dispossession of Indigenous people was the darkest aspect of Australia's history. He's recorded as saying: "No way, it's not theirs, it's ours." But he was wrong. These organisations could assist in under-writing costs, insurance and risk as well as helping explore options for Indigenous specific loan products. 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. In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Governments have committed themselves to the economic development of our communities. The Mabo verdict was arguably the most significant court ruling in the history of Indigenous Australia, overturning the concept of terra nullius and paving the way for native title. Help your class to explore the life of Eddie Mabo with this engaging and educational biography-writing task. 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 . 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. Our News Uncle Edward 'Koiki' Mabo was born in 1936, in Las on the island of Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait to 'Robert' Zesou Sambo and 'Annie' Poipe, ne Mabo. (2011 lecture transcript), 2010 Presentation by Professor Chris Sarra. This often presents internal issues for traditional owner groups about how decisions are made and how benefits will be shared and responsibilities exercised. 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. The world of becoming ascends. I was there as a young associate working for a judge, and saw the jubilation and relief of . Elders saythe wateris now a battleground. 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. Fungibility and native title. Concocted by the early settlers, it was used, systematically, cynically and effectively to deprive the indigenous people of their own land. He was another victim of Terra Nullius, like so many of his fellow indigenous people had been before him. That was Eddie Mabos gift. The earliest papers on the Murray Island land claim are a manuscript and typescript of a speech by Mabo at the Land Rights and Future of Australian Race Relations Conference at James Cook University in 1981. That is, how do we build on the underlying communal title to create options for our economic development? He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. Judged by any civilised standard, such a law is unjust ". This was apartheid in Australia, not South Africa. HOST: Today is Mabo Day. To sign treaties. It is this issue of development that I will explore later in greater detail. 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. We did not end. As a nation, this is an improvement from fourth position just over ten years ago in 2003.[10]. Watch all your favourite ABC programs on ABC iview. Volume 3 (146pp). During this time he became involved in community and political organisations, such as the union movement and the 1967 Referendum campaign. 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. Husband, father, grandfather, mate, advocate, achiever, Principal and mentor. Eddie Koiki Mabo presents a guest lecture about the Torres Strait Islander community 2,837 views Nov 18, 2020 51 Dislike Share Save JCU Library 451 subscribers This short video is an excerpt. More information. 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]. He immediately saw the injustice of it and from then on dedicated his life to reversing it. 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. 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. They reflect the period in which they were created and are not the views of the National Archives. It is clear that the current system has not delivered what had initially been intended to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In 1974, he became involved in a discussion with two academics. This independence could be realized through greater roles for Indigenous landholders through business, land management and other opportunities. 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. "I think that like many others, I was trying to deal with something that was new, that was undefined," Kennett told The Age newspaper. And in 1981, Eddie was invited by the same university to make a speech about Mer's land inheritance system. That's why the legal decision is universally known as "Mabo". Without this foundation, there would be no opportunity for us to access these rights through this unique form of land tenure. 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. Other forms of recognition have been added. This case, I said thisman Mabo will change Australia. Yindyamarra winanghanha. Words like han. It is a feeling. Love, suffering, hope, justice and truth Eddie Mabo knew about love too. 2. Financing economic development within the Indigenous estate. In 1979 Wiradjuri man and law student Paul Coewalked the path that Eddie Mabo would follow all the way to the High Court of Australia. A human rights based approach has been a key part of advocacy of all Social Justice Commissioners. Mabo Day & Native Title: Who was Eddie Mabo & what is his legacy? 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]. Our landsings gently a song of sadness. [1] And that shift is the move to the next emerging challenge; how do we maximise these rights to their full potential, now that we have our native title recognized? 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 "The golden house of is collapses. He knew about suffering. 3. Business development support and succession planning. 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. Barrister Ron Castan, Eddie Mabo and barrister Bryan Keon-Cohen at . 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. 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. 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. On 21 May 2008, James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. One of the people who attended the conference, a lawyer, suggested they should make a case to claim land rights through the court system. By continuing to use this site, you are giving us consent to do this. 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. 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. 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. A while back I read a business management book by an American, Leon C. Megginson. But that hasn't stopped indigenous people, like Queensland elder Douglas Bon, taking great satisfaction in the ruling. 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. The court dismissed his challenge to Australian sovereignty, but in his opinion Justice Lionel Murphy rattled the bones of the Australian settlement. " Eddie Koiki Mabo (c. 29 June 1936 - 21 January 1992 [1]) was an Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia which overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius ("land belonging to nobody") which characterised And he knew truth. [2] Australian Human Rights Commission, Paper on Indigenous Leaders Roundtable, Property Rights, p4. 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. 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). Reynolds writes: Nor did the judges intend that it should. 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 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. Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Science and Innovation. This landmark decision led to the Australian Government introducing native title . Eddie Koiki Mabo died of cancer on 21 January 1991, before the case was resolved. I have heard it at dawn as the earth crackles, the river waters run, and the animals stir as the Sun peers above the hills and the light strikes the trees on my beloved Wiradjuri 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. More Information .We are closed in a box. Another similarity is something that sometimes we do not acknowledge enough. 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. This activity encourages children to write down their knowledge in a structured report . They ruled that the Mabo decision in no way challenges the legality of non-Aboriginal land tenure. A clear theme from the Broome Roundtable revealed a common frustration among many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 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 . Born on 29 June 1936 in his village of Las on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait, Eddie Koiki Mabo was the fourth child of Robert Zesou Sambo and Poipe (Sambo) Mabo. 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. De Rose Hill is a landmark case because it represents a significant moment in time in the native title space. But 20 years after the judgement, there's still a debate among constitutionalists, lawyers and politicians about the legacy of Mabo. Born in 1936, he grew up in the village of Las on the north bend of Mer Island. Several cabinet papers from the time of the Mabo decision reflect on its likely ramifications, including: The National Archives of Australia acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of Country throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land, sea and community. Importantly, development is also a process through which other human rights can be realized and our wellbeing alongside all other populations is maximised. Words makaratta. Vincent Lingiari and men and women of the Gurindji people. 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. Eddie Mabo had challenged the very ideological establishment of Australia and the first Australians. 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. (No. [3] N Pearson in The Australian, Property rights will help economical development of Indigenous Australians, 22 May 2015. From 1973-1983 he established and became director of the Black Community School in Townsville. 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. 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.