Mabo Decision Timeline

1974

Eddie Koiki Mabo, was a Torres Strait Islander. At this time Eddie Mabo is a gardener working at James Cook University, Townsville. During this time, he finds out the land he grew up on (land on the Murray Island), does not belong to him at all.

1980's

• 1981 - Eddie Koiki Mabo holds a speech at a lands right conference, at James Cook University, explaining the order of land ownership and inheritance on the Murray Island.
• 1982 - A group of the Meriam people; Mr Mabo, Sam Passi, David Pass, Celuia Mapo Salee and James Rice take ownership of lands on the Murray Island legally.

1980's cont.

• 1985 - The Queensland Government uses the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act as their defence to try and nullify any land the Torres Strait Islanders have claimed.

The Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act claims that when the Torres Strait Islanders were owned by the Queensland Government under the Coast Island Act in 1879, the Murray Islands did not belong to any of the people who claimed land but the State of Queensland instead.

• 1988 - The case is taken to the High Court. At the High Court, they find the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act contravenes section 10 of the Federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, which makes the argument false.

However, the case is not yet over, and still undecided. Native title rights should be viewed as part of the human right to own and inherit property, if it had existed. By stating this the Coast Islands Act made an unfair compromise, towards the property rights of people in the Torres Strait.

1992

• After the case is taken to the High Court, the idea of terra nullius is denied and addressess the Meriam people as the owners of the traditional lands on Murray Island.
• This is a significant event that has occurred during the Indigenous rights movement. However, tension rises within the pastoral and mining sectors on facts about the ruling.
• Unfortunately Mr Mabo cannot celebrate the victory, dying from cancer earlier, aged 56.
• The then prime minister, Paul Keating, addresses a crowd of approximately 2000 in Redfern. Keating states the unfortunate situation of Indigenous Australia, is to do with non-Aboriginal Australians.
• The Redfern Address speech, is known for being one of the most significant speeches by an Australian prime minister. This shows the start of Mr Keating's decision to move the ruling of Mabo case into parliamentary law.

1993

• The Keating government has won the March election.They decided to go and have discussions with Aboriginal leaders, the states, mining and pastoral interests on how to officialize the Mabo ruling.
• After the winning of the case, many start to claim land, some claiming big capital cities. This puts the Federal Government under pressure, which resorts to them declining the Mabo ruling to take action. Due to this problem occuring, the Federal Coalition is broken apart. Because of this, Tim Fischer, the National Party leader at the time, claims the Mabo ruling puts the Australian economy at stake.
• November 16 - the Native Title Act is marked as an important topic to discuss in Federal Parliament,in response to the Mabo ruling. Being the longest debate in 92 years of Senate history, the bill passes. The total amount of hours that it took were 111.
• The Native Title Act identified situations where Indigenous people had maintained a connection with the land and water on Murray Island, as native title.
• But unfortunately, it is not recognised if the connection to the land is lost, or it is permitted for private interests.
• This therefore meant private property and mining and pastoral leases that were pre-existing were not valid for any native title claims.

• Wik Peoples brought a case to the high court about cape York Peninsula and found that statutory leases such as pastoral leases do not completely get rid of native title rights.
• The court however, did rule that when there is conflict between pastoral leases and native title, the pastoral leave will take priority.

1998

Replying to the Wik decision, prime minister John Howard (at the time) showcases a plan known as the "10 point plan" through the Native Title Amendment Bill. The billcontributed to enforcing the rights of pastoral lease holders, which made it more difficult to claim native title.