How Did Mabo Treat The Australian Indigenous People

Australian indigenous people lived on this land for up to 60,000 years before Europe discovered the country and claimed settlement. The ingenious people lived their own lives, spoke their own language and had their own lifestyle. They believed they belonged to the land. They lived semi nomadic lifestyles traveling seasonally letting their previous land to re-flourish. This all changed in 1788 when the British claimed settlement. Australian indigenous people could no longer live the way they knew. The British didn’t understand the lifestyle of the aboriginals and they didn’t know how to treat them. For a period of time the aboriginals were treated like animals. They lost all their cultural beliefs and ways of living nearly instantly. The aboriginals were forced to learn to live the “civil” way the Europeans did. The aboriginal’s rights were already taken away from them as early as 1788. …show more content…
He could see the injustice the indigenous people were facing. He was very passionate about this issue and wanted the Aboriginal people to be recognised for their land rights. He was particularly fighting for the land rights of the Merriam people which are a group of people in the Torre Strait Islands who share the same beliefs and language and is where Eddie Mabo grew up.
The existing law at the time of Eddie Mabos beginning campaign was based on the principal of terra nullius meaning empty land. Meaning that Australia was officially considered an empty land prior to European Settlement. This meant for the Aboriginals that they had no property rights even though they were living on this land for thousands of years, according to Australia law they did not own their