Eddie Mabo Case Study

Eddie Mabo, full name Edward Koiki Sambo, devoted a great deal of time in his life to fight for the land rights of his people. He is now a central figure and household name for advocating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights and traditional ownership, but the story of his success, and how it changed Australia, has many heroes. Along with Mabo, plaintiffs Flo Kennedy and David Passi were geared up to launch a test case in the courts to dispute the doctrine of terra nullius; the existing law that stated Australia was officially considered empty land before British settlement. However the process of carrying out a test case proved to be difficult and compelled some of the plaintiff’s to withdraw. Later in the year of 1989, Mabo and James Rice was the only plaintiff’s left and Rice was under pressure to withdraw as a plaintiff. Lawyers Greg McIntyre, Barbara Hocking and Garth

They had their own traditional laws and customs and held a very strong and deep-rooted connection to their land. The British policy of the land being terra nullius, or “nobody’s land”, infringed the rights and customs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The concept of terra nullius robbed the Indigenous population of their right to have possession of their traditional and revered land.

Mabo firmly believed it was not the white government’s responsibility to deny rights to traditional Indigenous land. He drew upon his own firsthand knowledge and read many library books about his people in order to convey his message and objective, that is, to reinforce traditional land ownership and to overturn the doctrine of terra nullius. His first real push for land rights began in the 1980s. He was very passionate about land rights hence attending the Land Rights Conference in 1981 and explained his position on the