The Mabo Decision Was A Legal Case Held In Australia

The Mabo decision was a legal case held in Australia 1992, which left a significant effect on Indigenous Australians lives. Eddie Mabo’s case was the first step to Indigenous people gaining all land rights and gave a feeling of reinstate from the home land that was once lost. Known as the ‘Mabo & others v Queensland case (No.2)’. The Mabo decision was the apex of a legal battle started ten years earlier by a group of Indigenous Australians from the Torres Strait Islands of Mer to reattain their long-established ownership of the Murray Islands. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie Mabo, the man who challenged Australia’s legal system and fought for recognition of the rights of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders as traditional owners

The Aboriginals spoke their own language, had their own laws and customs, and mostly a strong connection with the country’s land. The British arrived to the shores and declared Australia ‘terra nullius’ meaning empty land that belongs to no body. The land clearly wasn’t uninhabited but the Indigenous people no longer had the right to use the land as they please freely. Under international law Australia was now British land. As a result, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders occupation of and unique connection with the land weren’t recognised and the British took the land without agreement or payment. Year after there was a debate whose land was Australia? This sparked protests and fights for land between Indigenous and non-Indigenous across the country. Mer islanders then decided they would challenge a legal principle of terra nullius in the high court and that Eddie Mabo would lead

The Mabo decision was one of the most controversial decisions ever seen in Australian court. The decision was hard to fully comprehend as there was no definition to which native title existed in Australia before the British arrived. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders celebrated the achievement in regaining their homeland and in remembrance of Eddie Mabo. Paul Keating the prime minister took the opportunity to apologise to the Indigenous Australians for the treatment they received in taking away their land rights. Although the government passed this case, not everyone found the Mabo decision a successful achievement. Mining companies and other industries weren’t happy. They found it would take more time and money to gain leases on land and their applications may be denied. Mabo day occurs annually on 3 June to commemorate Eddie Mabo. His son, Eddie Mabo Junior says on behalf of his family that, ‘We believe that a public holiday would be fitting to honour and recognise the contribution to the high court decision of not only my father and his co-plaintiffs but also to acknowledge all Indigenous Australians who have empowered and inspired each