eddie mabo speech transcript eddie mabo speech transcript

But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. One of the people who attended the conference, a lawyer, suggested they should make a case to claim land rights through the court system. . (2014 lecture transcript), 2013 Presentation by Dr Bryan Keon-Cohen QC. During this time he enrolled as a student and studied teaching at the College of Advanced Education, which later amalgamated with JCU. Born in 1936, he grew up in the village of Las on the north bend of Mer Island. Overwhelmingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have indicated that it is time for a new process of engagement to occur with the government on the topic of our rights after native title. 2023 BBC. 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. That is, after 20 years of operation, we finally saw the first time compensation had been awarded for the extinguishment of native title rights and interests under the Native Title Act. It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. 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. Han is Korean and it is more than a word. Our people know han. Elders saythe wateris now a battleground. 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]. 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. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of limited native title. Mabo: Life of an Island Man is a 1997 Australian documentary film on the life of Indigenous Australian land rights campaigner Eddie Koiki Mabo.. 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. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. While he believed the Murray Island belonged to the Torres Strait Islander people, Australian law stated that the Government owned the land. I want to give two words from my people, Wiradjuri. (2011 lecture transcript), 2010 Presentation by Professor Chris Sarra. 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. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen No wonder Mr Abbott was visibly moved as he thanked "Aunty Gail" for . This effectively overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, which held that Australia didn't belong to anybody before European colonisation. [11]Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), preamble. Mabo's credibility as the primary witness for the case was savaged . 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. The truth: This was his land. 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. 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. 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. Fungibility and native title. It is a feeling. AAP. A world turning. He also co-operated with members of the Communist Party, the only white political party to support Aboriginal campaigns at the time. The golden house of is of culture and connection, of blood and dreaming, of time immemorial how the golden house of is collapses. 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. 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. And in 1981, Eddie was invited by the same university to make a speech about Mer's land inheritance system. Yindyamarra is respect: It is quiet, it is humble. He had refused to surrender his interests, or those of his people, to the domination of others. 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.". Vincent Lingiari and men and women of the Gurindji people. Document: 00003849.pdf 1 Page(s) Speech at the Gurindji Land Ceremony. There will be many words between now and then. De Rose Hill is a landmark case because it represents a significant moment in time in the native title space. Eddie Mabo and Gerard Brennan overturned the terra nullius policy and changed Australia forever. 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. The great polish poetCzeslawMilosz said perhaps all memory is the memory of wounds. A Yolngu word meaning to come together after a struggle. In a snapshot. 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]. 2019. 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'. The justices spoke of a legacy of "unutterable shame"and that the dispossession of Indigenous people was the darkest aspect of Australia's history. British law was the law of the colony and usurped and superseded Aboriginal law. In 2008, a library at James Cook University was named after him. The Mabo Case Eddie Mabo is widely known for his plight to regain land rights for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The decision. 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. The judge's four hundred page report presented Mabo and his barristers with a bombshell which threatened to sink their case. In 2014, Australia ranked second after Norway, in the United Nations Human Development Index,[9] a position that would seem to indicate that we all enjoy a quality of life superior to most others in the world. For 50 years this embassy has stood as a reminder that we are still here. Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. 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 . Transcript. The second key theme that was raised at the roundtable was the issue of financing economic development within the Indigenous estate. "It gave us back our pride. I had read about the case as it moved through the lower courts. Other cases persisted. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 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 ! As Kevin Mason divedin the ocean, a compliance officer waswatching on the cliffs above. In 1981, Eddie Mabo delivered a speech at James Cook University in Queensland, where he challenged the widely accepted belief of ownership and inheritance of land on Murray Island. The man who had engineered the historic change of law, never lived to witness it himself. Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. Some records include terms and views that are not appropriate today. It is clear that the current system has not delivered what had initially been intended to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Those cases resulted in the acknowledgment that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had the right to claim the land they and their ancestors had lived on for thousands of years. 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. 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. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We cross rivers and we are changed like the water itself. Watch all your favourite ABC programs on ABC iview. It was on 3 June 1992 that the Australian High Court overturned more than 200 years of white domination of land ownership. Eddie Koiki Mabo was an advocate of the 1967 Referendum, fighting for equal rights including education. (2013 lecture transcript), 2012 Presentation by Professor Henry Reynolds. On 3 June 1992, six of the seven High Court judges upheld the claim and ruled that the lands of . Mabo gained an education, became an activist for black rights and worked with his community to make sure Aboriginal children had their own schools. But the . Typical of such awards, the citations are generally understated and this is particularly so in your case. Rejected at each turn. [9] UN Development Programme, Human Development Index, UN Human Development Report. 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. This landmark decision led to the Australian Government introducing native title . Barrister Ron Castan, Eddie Mabo and barrister Bryan Keon-Cohen at . But alongside . That's why the legal decision is universally known as "Mabo". Concocted by the early settlers, it was used, systematically, cynically and effectively to deprive the indigenous people of their own land. 2017 presentation by Professor Megan Davis, Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous, University of New South Wales. The debate about Mabo's legacy still goes on today, Many indigenous Australians still live in poverty, Bakhmut attacks still being repelled, says Ukraine, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Mother who killed her five children euthanised, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Zoom boss Greg Tomb fired without cause. 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. This was our land. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. In his historic speech at Sydney's Redfern Park, then Prime Minister Paul Keaing said: "By doing away with the bizarre conceit that this continent had no owners prior to the settlement of Europeans, Mabo establishes a fundamental truth and lays the basis for justice." We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.. I am sure that these issues will resonate with many of you here today. You can find it still, somewhere buried in the archives of ABC News. We go on, he said, ever, ever, ever on. Mabo was a Torres Strait islander from Mer (Murray Island), off Australia's north-east coast. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The truth: This was his land. In 1994 the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) was established in response to Read More 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. This will always be our land. [7] OHCHR Website, Essays in Commemoration of 25 years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development. The victory was largely down to one indigenous man called Eddie Mabo. It felt in this case that the time had come. 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. Words speak across tongues. 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. They can raise us to anger then soothe us. Ten years later, he conceded his fears were unfounded. The new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, says there will be a referendum to enshrine a voice an Indigenous representative body in the Australian constitution. Mabo made a speech to the audience where he explained the indigenous customary land inheritance system on Murray Island. In 1974, he became involved in a discussion with two academics. He was right. Eddie Koiki Sambo was born on June 29, 1936 on the Torres Strait island of Mer, also known as Murray Island. And he was right. In the Shire of . 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. 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]. I like how the words create a rhythm. "If ever a system could be called a government of laws," he said, "it is shown in the evidence before me.". This led to the subsequent High Court case, Mabo v Queensland (No 2), which was to determine the matter of the plaintiffs' land rights. This needs to change. This Declaration on the Right to Development was adopted by the General Assembly in 1986. So, in many ways, the victory has been more symbolic than practical. Can I also acknowledge all you here today who have come together to work out how we can access our land, seas and waters easier and quicker, but who have also come to talk to each other about how we can make better use of our estates to make life a little better for the rest of our mob out there. 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. 10. We need to work alongside government to equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills to turn the economic and commercial aspirations into reality. There was scepticism, even cynicism, but I was able to report the story. SPEECH - THURSDAY, 3 JUNE . 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. The former president of Western Australia's Liberal Party, Bill Hassel, said the ruling was greeted with "outrage". Justice John Willis said: "In Australia it is the colonists not the Aborigines are the foreigners.". Reynolds writes: But he was wrong. At 31, this affrontery became his epiphany. and in 2008 James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. 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. Transcript of proceedings.in the High Court of Australia between Eddie Mabo, David Passi, James Rice.and the State of Queensland Proceedings for 28-31 May 1991, 3 June 1992, and 8 December 1992. Truth. To sign treaties. What is this Eddie Mabo Biography Worksheet? At http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf (viewed 9 June 2015). The Mabo case Records relating to the Mabo case About Eddie Mabo Edward Koiki Mabo was born on 29 June 1936. . It was through his association with JCU humanities and education staff, Professor Henry Reynolds and Associate Professor Noel Loos, that Eddie became interested in who owned the land on which his people lived, and in Native Title. The golden house of is collapses and the world of becoming ascended.". 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. Eddie Mabo (left) and . Eddie Mabo was heartbroken and never forgave government authorities. By continuing to use this site, you are giving us consent to do this. Drama Biopic Inspiring. 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. 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 . Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource and resource page may contain the image, name or voice of deceased persons. 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 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. Unlike them, however, Mabo wasn't going to accept it. 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. We know sadness. The conference, 'Land Rights and the Future of Australian Race Relations', was sponsored by the Townsville Treaty Committee and the James Cook University's Student Union. 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. 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. I was there as a young associate working for a judge, and saw the jubilation and relief of . This is our land. 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. Our landsings gently a song of sadness. During this time he became involved in community and political organisations, such as the union movement and the 1967 Referendum campaign. [6] UN Declaration on the Right to Development, Article 1, para 1. 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. Gail Mabo and Prime Minister Tony Abbott during their visit to the grave of Eddie Mabo on Mer Island. 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. Mabo and his fellow plaintiff's fought for land on Mer - their ancestral gardens and home. The issue of compensation for unfinished business was another key theme of the Roundtable. The Keating government gave effect to the Mabo decision by introducing the Native Title Act 1993, which facilitated the process of recognising native title. They ruled that the Mabo decision in no way challenges the legality of non-Aboriginal land tenure. Mabo Day & Native Title: Who was Eddie Mabo & what is his legacy? Text 1936 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]. "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.". 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. (2010 lecture transcript). To strengthen our democracy as Eddie Mabo strengthened our law. The remarkable life story of Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo; a Torres Strait Islander who left school at the age of 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that overthrew the fiction of terra nullius. He was a Meriam man and grew up on Mer, part of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait. Love, suffering, hope, justice and truth Eddie Mabo knew about love too. Thank you Russell for your kind words of introduction. 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. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie Mabo, the You and I know all too well that we live shorter, poorer lives than our non-Aboriginal counterparts. I stand here proud to bring a message from my Elders. . Bonita 'Netta' Mabo: Eddie's wife and is a resourceful, supportive and loving woman. [1] It was brought by Eddie Mabo against the State of Queensland and decided on 3 June 1992. Until Mabo, we had been a forgotten people, even though we knew that we were in the right.". 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. A while back I read a business management book by an American, Leon C. Megginson. He is best known for the two court cases that bear his name, Mabo v. Queensland (numbers 1 and 2). [3] N Pearson in The Australian, Property rights will help economical development of Indigenous Australians, 22 May 2015. He spoke of impermanence: He knew things did not last and yet we do. 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. They claimed that Murray Island (Mer) and surrounding islands and reefs had been continuously inhabited and exclusively possessed by the Meriam people . But who was Eddie Mabo, why did he take up what must have seemed like a hopeless cause and what is the legacy of his campaign? Australia owes you a great debt. 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. Eternal. Yindyamarra winanghanha. Older articles are being reviewed with a view to bringing them into line with contemporary values but the original text will remain available for historical context. When democracy is teetering and autocracy is rising. Another similarity is something that sometimes we do not acknowledge enough. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.