EDDIE MABO

and the Mabo Decision

MABO 1992
BACKGROUND: In 1788, the British claimed ownership of the entire Australian
continent. To the European mind, the indigenous people who had occupied Australia for many
thousands of years were nomads, without property, social organisation or systems of laws. So
the British held that Australia was terra nullius, land belonging to no-one. According to
British law, imposed by force, Aboriginal people were not legal owners of the land. This
included the islands of the Torres Strait.

In 1981, Eddie Mabo and other Torres Strait Islanders decided to fight for their ancestral right
to land on Mer, which the British had renamed Murray Island. They took the Australian
government to court. The case became known as “the Mabo case”.

They argued for acknowledgment of ‘native title’ and the complex, customary patterns of
land ownership, inheritance and use that predated colonisation. Central to the case was
Malo, a Meriam god (represented as an octopus) who gave the Islanders their laws.
The ‘Mabo Decision’

The High Court verdict: 3 June 1992

This High Court ruling overturns the legal doctrine of terra nullius and recognises that:
■ the community of Murray Island had a valid system of land ownership that predates
white settlement
■ Australia’s Indigenous peoples owned traditional land under native title
■ native title continues to the present day, unless extinguished by the Crown
■ native title may be extinguished if the landholders lose all connection to their lands
and cease to observe their traditional laws and customs.
The effects of the ‘Mabo Decision’
High Court decision “Mabo” or
Native Title Judgement

Native Title Judgement Native Title Act, 1993

made law in Parliament

Native Title Act, 1993:

• Introduced by Keating Government - legislation to recognise the Mabo Decision

• Worked to reduce rights of Aboriginal people by validating land titles made

since 1788 and even illegal titles.

• It gave Aboriginal people some advantage in that it created a legal

mechanism whereby claims of Native Title could be made through the courts.
More effects of the ‘Mabo Decision’:
The ‘Native Title’ Act 1993
■ Successful claims result in recognition of traditional rights but this does
not usually mean full ownership
■ Can be claimed over:
• Crown land
• Land held under land rights
• Over water
■ Can be extinguished by other types of
title: freehold and exclusive leases.
■ Must show traditional connection with the claimed area
■ An Aboriginal individual can claim on behalf of a native title claim group.