Edward Koiki Mabo: The Journey to Native Title - [API] Network

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Eddie Mabo Justice Moynihan had also to proceed to adjudicate on the particular claims of the three surviving litigants. Because of the complexity of islander custom with regard to inheritance, there were nineteen counter-claims by Meriam relatives to Mabo’s thirty-six claims. Seventeen, however, were wholly uncontested, and thirteen only partly contested. Each person asserting ownership of parcels of land seemed genuinely to believe in his or her case and justified it, pointing out how the disputed land had passed from one ancestor to another, going back in some cases over a hundred years to justify a claim. Although genealogies were submitted, much of the evidence was based on oral testimony of how a parent, grandparent or more remote ancestor had said the land was to be distributed. Such claims attempted to take account of direct biological or blood descent, the bewildering frequency of Islander adoption and fostering of closely related children (and the difference these two processes could make to inheritance), the legitimacy (or illegitimacy if not adopted) of the children, and the wishes of the landowner in bestowing his or her land. This could be done by having a written will registered with the Murray Island council (Benny Mabo had died intestate) or by a ‘say’, an oral expression of intention to some relative or relatives who would report it as each had understood the intentions of the landowner. And then, of course, boundaries continued to be a great source of dispute as they had been in Melanesian societies before European intrusion. All of these issues were raised in the supreme court of Queensland in the dispute over what was or was not land inherited by Koiki Mabo. Needless to say, land disputes are still occurring in the Torres Strait today. In such disputes, past and present, participants claim all of the land they believe they own, regardless of how unreasonable this may seem to the other islanders in the dispute, whose claims will of course seem equally unreasonable to their opponents. Even on his death-bed Koiki Mabo asserted his claim to the lands that were under dispute in the Moynihan inquiry. I personally found the sincerity of my dying friend convincing and very moving. To date his land claims have not been rejected by the Murray Island council. Indeed, he is buried at Las on land whose ownership was under challenge. I have some sympathy with Justice Moynihan as he did not have the luxury of hindsight nor indeed all of the relevant information. However, to someone who knew Koiki Mabo, Justice Moynihan’s complete rejection of his claims and his assessment of Mabo’s character seem harsh indeed. The high court gave up the battle to determine which particular claimant owned which particular pieces of land. On 3 June 1992 it declared that, throughout Australia, native title had existed before European colonisation, ‘from time immemorial’, and that it still existed unless it had been subsequently extinguished by the sovereign state, in this case Queensland, by land legislation that disposed of it freehold, or through leasehold title which was incompatible with the pre-existing native title. The high court decided that where ‘native title’ still existed it was up to ‘the native’ to determine who owned the land, as indeed Justice Moynihan had recommended in his report. This the Meriam had been doing ‘from time immemorial’. On 3 June 1995, three years to the day after the high court judgement, Mabo’s tombstone was unveiled to commemorate his life and achievements. To the Meriam community it also marked ‘the end of sorry’, the end of the grieving period, an affirmation of life and relationships. This had been preceded by a celebration of 117
Noel Loos Mabo’s achievements in the city mall and followed by a huge feast and islander dancing at night. During that night his grave was desecrated. Eight swastikas had been sprayed in red paint on the black marble tombstone and ‘Abo’ sprayed twice. Red paint had been sprayed elsewhere around the grave to disfigure it. The bronze image of Mabo’s smiling face had been removed without the bolts holding it being cut or the marble damaged. Those responsible have still not been found nor the bronze face of Koiki Mabo recovered. Mabo’s family and friends were devastated by this demonstration of obscene hatred, as were many people throughout Australia. Most of Townsville’s white community were shocked that this could happen in their city. In September 1995, Mabo’s body was reburied at his village, Las, on the sacred hill of his ancestors, and on the following day his tombstone was again ritually unveiled. Endnotes * The autobiographical material in this paper is based on taped interviews I made with Edward Koiki Mabo and on his personal papers, which have been placed in the National Library, MS8822: ‘The Papers of Edward Koiki Mabo’. The entire collection is restricted until January 2005. A fuller account of Mabo’s life can be found in Noel Loos and Koiki Mabo, Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle for Land Rights, St Lucia, 1996. Some excerpts from this book have been used in this paper. 1 Mabo and Others v. The State of Queensland (May 1982) and Mabo and Others v. The State of Queensland (No.2) (1992). 2 Eidi Papa (George Mye), ‘Who Was That Boy’, cited in Noel Loos and Koiki Mabo, Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle for Land Rights, St Lucia, 1996, p. vii. 3 Jeremy Beckett, The Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism, Sydney, 1987, p. 112. 4 M. Josephine Mackerras and Dorothea F. Sanders, Malaria in the Torres Strait Islands, South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia, 1954. I am grateful to David Fitzpatrick, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, for this paper. Mabo is not mentioned by name. 5 Cited in Loos and Mabo, op, cit., pp. 168-9. 6 Ibid., pp. 126-7. 7 Workers Weekly, 24 September 1931. See also M. Franklin, Black and White Australians: An Inter-Racial History 1788-1975, Melbourne, 1976, p. 134. 8 Kenneth Orr (ed.), We the Australians: What Is To Follow the Referendum: Proceedings of the Inter-Racial Seminar held at the University College, Townsville, 2nd and 3rd December, 1967, Inter-Racial Citizens’ Committee, Townsville, 1968, pp. 1-2. I have also added my own recollections as a member of the Convening Committee. 9 C. D. Rowley, The Remote Aborigines, Victoria, 1972, pp. 106-8. 10 Edward Koiki Mabo, Report of a Visit to Thursday Island, April 1973. On audio cassette, in possession of the author. 11 J. Beckett, ‘The Murray Island land case and the problem of cultural continuity’, in W. Sanders (ed.), Mabo and Native Title: Origins and Institutional Implications, Canberra, 1994, pp. 19-23. 12 Ibid., Mabo read his telegram into the tape. See J. Griffin (ed.), the Torres Strait Border Issue: Consolidation, Conflict or Compromise Townsville, 1976, pp. 34-35. 13 Chairman, Murray Island Council, to Edward Mabo, 17 Ocotber 1974. In possession of Bonita Mabo, Townsville. 14 Discussion with George Mye, Darnley Island, 19 May 1997. Mr Mye was at that time chairman of Murray island council. He was not present when the decision was made, only became aware of it from a newspaper report, and said he did not support it. Mabo rang him to express his angry opposition to the decision. 15 Discussion with Henry Reynolds, 3 August 1994. 118
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