Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellyland to Indigenous peoples (Aboriginal Women's Reference Group 2005)(Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement 2008) These accounts highlight thecollaborative work of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people attempting to addresspast colonisation practices (what is possible), and the strong colonial resistance thatcontinues to permeate our legal and political systems in Australia (the barriers).Mabo and WikIn the 1980s a group of Torres Strait Islanders led by Eddie Koiki Mabo began legalaction to have traditional title to their land on Mer (Murray Island) formallyrecognised. Edie Mabo had been refused permission by the Department ofAboriginal and Islander Affairs to visit his family on Murray Island. He believed hehad the right to return as it was his homeland. A legal team determined that Maboand other Meriam people had a strong case to argue Native Title as it was clear thatthey could prove uninterrupted occupation of their land, due to visible and lastingsigns of soil cultivation (Attwood 1996). The resulting 10 year court case was long,difficult and protracted. Repeatedly the legal system discredited the oral, family andtraditional knowledge of the Meriam people. This was a culturally unsafe processfor those involved (Morrissey & Fricke 2001; Ramsden 2002).Eventually the legal team successfully challenged the concept of terra nullius in theAustralian High Court. Unfortunately Eddie Mabo and two other Merimammembers died before the final High Court decision was handed down in 1992. TheMabo decision, as it became known, was hailed by some activists as a positive stepforward in reconciliation. Others saw it as an ambiguous decision, and one that didnot outline to what extent Native title existed on mainland Australia (Morrissey &Fricke 2001).In 1997 the Wik people challenged the Queensland Government over Native Titleand pastoral leases granted to graziers by the crown. Native title, a concept basedon the idea that Aboriginal ‘owners’ of the land need to be able to prove a continualconnection with their traditional lands is easily extinguished in situations whereAboriginal people have left the land voluntarily or forcibly. Government policiesand takeover of land for purposes such as pastoral, mining and townships have leftfew Aboriginal people in a position to claim continual connection (Morrissey &Fricke 2001; Norberry 1997).The Wik People versus the Queensland Government41