I wanted to write about a man who made a big difference in Australia a few years ago. Eddie Mabo was born in 1936, on a small island in Torres Strait, in the very north-east of Australia. In that time these islands were strictly controlled by the government, and as a teenager Eddie was forced to leave the island for doing something silly. He worked in many places, including as a gardener in a university, where he also read a lot of books and listened to people lecturing. Here he had a conversation with some university professors, where he talked about his island and his people. The professors realized that Eddie thought the land belonged to him. Gently they told him that no, the land was Australia's, because nobody owned that land.
This is to say that the Aboriginal people, who had lived in Australia (and on the Torres Strait Islands) for thousands of years, were considered to be "nobody" and had no right to own any of the land they had lived on. It was known as "terra nullius".
Well, Eddie Mabo was completely shocked by this, and decided to take it to the High Court to challenge this law and win back the land for his people. It took over ten years of legal discussions, and in fact Eddie Mabo died (aged 55) before the High Court finally announced the verdict in 1992: that the Aboriginal people did have "native title" (ownership) and had the right to claim their land.
This legal decision became known simply as "Mabo" and was a historic decision that has opened up new laws which make it possible for Aboriginal people to claim native title in Australia.
Although I never knew him, I admire Eddie Mabo greatly and I think he is worth remembering.
You can find out more about him at these sites:
Bye for now ... enjoy your break!
Shelley
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