Eddie Koiki Mabo (c.1936–21 January 1992) was a Torres Strait Islander who became famous in Australian history for his role in campaigning for indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius which characterised Australian law with regards to land and title.

Mabo was named Eddie Koiki Sambo but he changed his name to Mabo when he was adopted by his mother's brother, Benny Mabo.^[1] He was born on Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea.^[1]

University

Eddie Mabo worked on a number of jobs before becoming a gardener with James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland at the age of thirty one. The time he spent on the campus had a massive impact on his life.

In 1974, this culminated in a discussion he had with Professor Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, who recalled Eddie Mabo's reaction as follows,

...we were having lunch one day in Reynold's office when Koiki was just speaking about his land back on Mer, or Murray Island. 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...he said and I remember him saying 'No way, it's not theirs, it's ours'.

Land rights advocate

In 1981 a Land Rights Conference was held at James Cook University and to that audience, Eddie Mabo made a speech where he spelt out clearly land ownership and land inheritance in Murray Island. 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.

On the outcome of that decision, Henry Reynolds said that "...it was a ten year battle and it was a remarkable saga really."

Death and legacy

However, while he would take time out to relax by working on his boat or painting watercolours of his island home, after ten years the strain began to affect his health.

In January 1992, Koiki Mabo died of cancer. He was fifty-five years of age.

Five months later on June 3 the High Court announced its historic decision, namely overturning the legal state of terra nullius - ('no-mans land') which is a modern term applied to the attitude of the British towards land ownership on the continent of Australia.

"...so Justice Moynihan's decision that Mabo wasn't the rightful heir was irrelevant because the decision that came out was that native title existed and it was up to the Aboriginal or Islander people to determine who owned what land." Henry Reynolds.

That decision is now commonly called "Mabo" in Australia, and recognised for its landmark status. Three years after Eddie Koiki Mabo died, that being the traditional mourning period for the people of Murray Island, a gathering was held in Townsville for a memorial service.

Overnight Koiki's grave site was attacked by vandals who spray painted eight red swastikas and the racist word "Abo" on his tombstone, and removed a bronze bas-relief portrait of him. Koiki's body was reburied on Murray Island, the land he loved and fought for so hard. That night, the Islanders performed their traditional ceremony for the burial of a king, a ritual not seen on the island for eighty years.

In 1992 Eddie Mabo was posthumously awarded the Human Rights Medal in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Awards, together with Rev Dave Passi, Sam Passi (deceased), James Rice (deceased), Celuia Mapo Salee (deceased) and Barbara Hocking. The award was in recognition "of their long and determined battle to gain justice for their people" and the "work over many years to gain legal recognition for indigenous people's rights".^[2]

In 1993 The Australian commemorated his work by voting him the 1992 Australian of the Year, not to be confused with the official Australian of the Year awards issued by the Australian Government. ^[3]

On 21st May 2008, James Cook University named its Townsville Campus Library The Eddie Koiki Mabo Library.http://www.jcu.edu.au/top/JCUPRD_031129.html

See also

• Native Title
• Mabo v Queensland (1988)
• Mabo v Queensland

Notes

References

• Mabo Papers
• Biographical Note - timeline of Mabo's Life
• Biography by Gail Mabo, his daughter
• Eddie Mabo Biography
• Papers of Eddie Mabo - held by the National Library of Australia
• Collection of art works by Edward Koiki Mabo - held and digitised by the National Library of Australia
• Apek kebile: Eddie Koiki Mabo : the boy from the other side of the island (videorecording) - "about Eddie Mabo, his love for his people and his homeland ..." / Office for Torres Strait Islander Affairs
• Mabo: life of an island man / original screenplay by Trevor Graham (1999, ISBN 0-86819-580-4)

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