eddie mabo speech transcript

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. But it was a bittersweet moment for the indigenous population. On 8 December 1988, the High Court ruled this legislation invalid. In some ways our systems of governance is a defining feature of the oldest living culture on this planet. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. Promoting Indigenous peoples right to development. Eddie's daughter, Gail Mabo remembers that day well. It would most likely still be in place had it not been for Eddie Koiki Mabo. Reynolds struck up a friendship with Eddie Mabo, who was then a groundsman and gardener at James Cook University. Other cases persisted. This led to the subsequent High Court case, Mabo v Queensland (No 2), which was to determine the matter of the plaintiffs' land rights. 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. Resting Place of Eddie Mabo. Help your class to explore the life of Eddie Mabo with this engaging and educational biography-writing task. 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. Yindyamarra winanghanha. Eddie Mabo was a staff member at JCU, working as a groundsman from 1967 to 1971. 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. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Gail Mabo and Prime Minister Tony Abbott during their visit to the grave of Eddie Mabo on Mer Island. The Mabo decision What is the Mabo decision? They both endured early hard lives that steeled them for the struggles that would eventually come their way. It is clear that we have seen a change in momentum as far as this space is concerned. That was Eddie Mabos gift. 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. A case was made, and took 10 years to reach a decision. Words like the Uluru Statement from the Heart: We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. But 20 years after the judgement, there's still a debate among constitutionalists, lawyers and politicians about the legacy of Mabo. 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. and in 2008 James Cook University named its Townsville campus library the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. We pay our respects to the people, their cultures and Elders past, present and emerging. 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. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie Mabo, the 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. 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? Importantly, the Roundtable highlighted that despite previous promises around compensation for historical dispossession, this has not yet materialized. He knew about hope and he knew about justice. For significant service to the community as a cultural leader and public sector executive in the field of Indigenous affairs.. But that's just 11% of Australia's land mass. By continuing to use this site, you are giving us consent to do this. Typical of such awards, the citations are generally understated and this is particularly so in your case. 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. The tools to guide us with a new conversation with Government around the full realization of our rights in relation to land and native title can be found in the UN Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Development. 23 Nov 1990 - 21 Oct 1994 Library at the University College of Townsville, Queensland. The truth: This was his land. "I think that like many others, I was trying to deal with something that was new, that was undefined," Kennett told The Age newspaper. Words like han. My people are the Gangulu from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland. Bonita 'Netta' Mabo: Eddie's wife and is a resourceful, supportive and loving woman. The justices spoke of a legacy of "unutterable shame"and that the dispossession of Indigenous people was the darkest aspect of Australia's history. 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. I stand here proud to bring a message from my Elders. So today it is indeed an honour for both my people and myself to be presenting this year's Edward Koiki Mabo Lecture. Mabo died five months earlier from cancer in January 1992, at the age of 55. 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. At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/native-title-report-2008 (viewed 5 June 2015). Six weeks later his father died. So, in many ways, the victory has been more symbolic than practical. 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Mabo and his fellow plaintiff's fought for land on Mer - their ancestral gardens and home. 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 . 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. . And these were the costs borne by the whole family. 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. Indigenous Education and Research Centre And in 1981, Eddie was invited by the same university to make a speech about Mer's land inheritance system. He knew about hope and he knew about justice. Hide message. Suggested answer: While working as a grounds keeper at James Cook University in Townsville, Eddie learnt about Australian land ownership laws. Mabo ended up on the mainland working a number of jobs, including labouring on the railways. 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]. What is this Eddie Mabo Biography Worksheet? First, they ask me to pass on their greetings and their thanks for allowing me on your lands. A Yolngu word meaning to come together after a struggle. 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. 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. 1h 43m. 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. Only land such as vacant crown land, national parks and some leased land, can be subject to claims by the Aboriginal owners. Our landsings gently a song of sadness. Mabo expressed disbelief and shock. In New South Wales, the most populous state, Aboriginal people have title over only 0.1% of the land. He was right. "The High Court, which is not elected by anybody, not accountable to anybody, had presumed to move into the legislative area to make a whole new law," he said. "If Koiki Mabo were alive today he would be an angry man," says Malezer. The practical effects of Mabo have, indeed, been mixed, judging by figures from the Koori Mail, a national indigenous-owned newspaper. And he was right. (2010 lecture transcript). We are currently not sharing in the developmental prosperity for which Australia is known. They can raise us to anger then soothe us. We go on, he said, ever, ever, ever on. 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. As Kevin Mason divedin the ocean, a compliance officer waswatching on the cliffs above. 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. This often presents internal issues for traditional owner groups about how decisions are made and how benefits will be shared and responsibilities exercised.

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