Mabo v Queensland: The landmark decision that changed Indigenous land rights in Australia

Eddie Mabo was born on the Murray Islands in 1936. He was the fourth child born to Robert and Poipe Sambo.

When his mother died shortly after his birth, Eddie was adopted by his uncle, Benny Mabo.

His parents were of the Meriam people, who had lived on the islands for over 6,000 years.

When Eddie was around nine or ten years old, he, along with other boys, was taught traditional dances and songs about the god Malo.

Then, at the age of fifteen, he recollected spending a month learning about Malo's laws through instruction from his grandfather.

In 1959, Eddie moved to Townsville in Queensland, where he worked a variety of jobs including as a laborer on pearling boats, a cane cutter and a railway fetter.

In the same year, he married his wife Bonita, and they raised ten children together.

In 1972, Mabo's adopted father, Benny, had died. Eddie was informed that he could not inherit his father's land because, under Queensland law, Indigenous people did not own the land.

This news deeply upset Eddie and it gave him a determination to fight for the recognition of Indigenous Australian land rights.

He decided to dedicate his life to this cause and began working with other Indigenous Australian activists to raise awareness about the issue.

He also had a growing passion to help the Indigenous people in other ways. So, in 1973, he helped set up a school for indigenous children in Townsville and also taught the classes there.

In the 1970s, Eddie Mabo was working as a gardener and groundskeeper at James Cook University.

It was here that he started to understand the reasons why his people did not legally own their traditional lands, even though they had lived on the islands for thousands of years.

In 1981, he gave a speech at JCU about land rights and Mer Island. Through this, he became friends with two James Cook University historians, Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, who encouraged Mabo to pursue his research on land rights.

A solicitor from Perth, Greg McIntyre, then agreed to present Eddie's case, along with two barristers, Ron Castan and Bryan Keon-Cohen. 

Finally, in 1982, Mabo and four other Murray Islanders - Celuia Mapo Salee, James Rice, David Passi, and Sam Passi - filed a lawsuit against the Queensland Government in the High Court of Australia.

They claimed that the Murray Islands were the traditional lands of the Meriam people, and that they had been illegally dispossessed of their lands in 1879.

However, lawyers for the Queensland state government argued that the Meriam people had no legal right to their traditional lands, as they had never 'acquired' them from the Crown.

They stated that, because of the British law of terra nullius, Australia had been effectively 'empty land' when British settlers arrived in 1788.

This meant that, according to the government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people could not have any legal claim to their traditional lands.

As a result, the Mabo case was defeated by the Queensland Supreme Court. So, instead, it was then appealed to the High Court of Australia.

On June 3, 1992, the High Court delivered its verdict in the case of Mabo v Queensland.

The court found in favor of Mabo and his co-plaintiffs. In the decision, the court ruled that terra nullius did not apply in Australia, and that Indigenous people did have a legal right to their traditional lands.

The court also recognized the existence of Native Title – the right of Indigenous people to their traditional lands.

This groundbreaking decision corrected a foundational legal error in the recognition of Indigenous land rights.

This 'Mabo decision', as it came to be called, overturned centuries of legislation that had denied Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people their land rights.

Sadly, Eddie Mabo died of cancer on the 21st of January of 1992, several months before the court's decision was handed down, but his legacy lives on.

As a direct result, in 1993, the Australian Government introduced the Native Title Act, which established the framework for the recognition and protection of native title in Australia.

This act would not have been possible without the courage and determination of Eddie Mabo, who fought for justice for his people until the very end.

In addition, the Wik case of 1996 further expanded the recognition of native title in Australia, clarifying that native title rights could coexist with pastoral leases.

However, the Howard government passed the Native Title Amendment Act in 1998, which was quite controversial.

This amendment was designed to address some practical aspects of native title claims and the negotiation processes involved.

Regardless, thanks to Mabo, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people finally have a voice – and a place – in Australia.

As of the latest figures, over 40% of the Australian landmass is now covered by native title claims.