Eddie Mabo

policy where the fostering started, Aboriginal children were sent to white families where they were not allowed to speak their language and practice their own culture, their names were even changed to the white names. The Meriam people, led by Eddie Mabo, took the action in the High Court to overturn the doctrine of terra nullius. (leaner guide, 4,4.1.2) where decisions were made by the High Court of Australia on the 3rd June, 1992 that the native land belongs to the Aboriginals and Torres…

1967 referendum, which removed clauses from the Constitution that discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australians. It ends with the High Court judgement on 3rd June, 1992, regarding the ‘Mabo case’ and Native Title Rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Eddie Mabo, a Torres Strait Islander, campaigned for Aboriginal and Torres Strait land rights for 10 years and died only months before the land mark decision. The High Court decision overturned the myth of ‘terra…

Torres Islander people, challenging the Australian Legal system regarding the fact that the British colonisers removed their lands thinking that the Aboriginal Torres Islander had no ownership of their land. The specific Islander group Meriam men, Eddie Koiki Mabo, Reverend David Passi, Celuia Mapoo Salee, Sam Passi and James Rice claimed the title of the Murray…

importance of the Mabo Decision, Native Title Act and Wik Judgement for the Land Rights movement (5 marks)
The Land Rights movement aimed to lead Aboriginal people towards regaining access and ownership to their sacred sites and traditional lands that were lost by European settlement. This movement was instigated by Charles Perkins through his Freedom Ride in 1965 and Vincent Lingiari, the elder of the Gurindji people, who promoted the Wave Hill Strike in 1966. In 1992, Eddie Mabo, on behalf of…

although a delayed and not-so grand gesture, this referendum established a greater sense equality amongst indigenous Australians and white Australians. Then in 1992 the Eddie Mabo decision was made abolishing the legal fiction of terra nullius, a term meaning that the land was empty and owned by no one before British settlement. The Mabo case established the existence of native title at common law in Australia, finding that native title survived colonisation and therefore continued where it…

Throughout Aboriginal history, there had been phases which implemented policies that affected their basic rights and freedoms. Assimilation first appeared in 1937 and was a policy which encouraged Aboriginal people to drift away from their traditional culture and thus, adopt fitting in and adapting to the Australian way of life. This was era was significant to the Aborigines as they were not considered part of the general population and their traditional life eroded over time. It heavily…

The following research essay will critically discuss and examine what the value of the australian law if it is based on a violent foundation? The essay will delve into the history of colonisation in order to justify the current predicament the country is in and the displacement the indigenous people of australia still feel today while acknowledging the praiseworthy efforts to make change. Despite the poor history of the australian law it is ever revolutionising and we should not disregard its…

“Judges (courts) do not ‘make’ law but merely interpret the law.” The famous quote, “Justice is the tolerable accommodation of the conflicting interests of society, and I don 't believe there is any royal road to attain such accommodation concretely” [Hamburger: http://www.quotegarden.com/justice.html (Downloaded 20th March 2016)] can be considered for interpreting that “Judges (courts) do not ‘make’ the law but merely interpret the law” as practically law is ruling our daily life as “the…

During the mid 1900’s, years after slavery was finally abolished, black people all around the world, most commonly in the US and Australia, were still being treated like slaves in every way but the labour. From verbal abuse, physical abuse, segregation (e.g. the local buses, schools, public toilets, etc.), etc. it wasn’t until the late 50’s where black people really turned it around and fought for what was right. Equality. From public figures, such as Martin Luthor King and Malcolm X, to locals,…

land was “terra nullius”, although there were Aboriginal people living on the island. This displayed the ethnocentric attitudes of the British which gave indigenous Australians no rights to their traditional land. This issue was highlighted when Eddie Mabo was told that he had no claim to his father’s ancestral island. Dreamtime stories about the creation of the world strongly connected Aboriginal people spiritually with every feature of their indigenous land. Thus, the acknowledgement of their…