Meriam V Ireland Case Study
After an unfortunate loss and denied claims in the Supreme Court of Queensland, Mabo and his team took the case back to the High Court of Australia, where they initially filed a writ (a form of written command in the name of a court or other legal authority to act, or abstain from acting, in a particular way) in 1982 to claim ownership of their ancestral land. The Case of Mabo v Queensland (N.2) asked the High Court whether the Meriam people of the Murray Islands were permitted to hold native title over their land. This idea had not been tested earlier as the doctrine of terra nullius was seen to concern all Australian land.
The plaintiff’s argued that Meriam people should be given the right to the Murray Islands "as owners; as possessors; as occupiers; or as persons entitled to use and enjoy the said islands". The Murray Islander witnesses described Meriam customs and sacred laws, which support both their traditional rights and commitments to land and sea.
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The High Court hearings concluded in May 1991 and then took many months before the verdict was finally announced in June 1992. By a majority of six-to-one, the High Court ruled a landmark decision that made native title to land recognised by the common law of Australia. This monumental finding overlooked the notion that when the land was, so they say, ‘discovered’ by Captain Cook in 1778 it was terra nullius, or uncivilised
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938 Words | 4 PagesTheir island in the Torres Strait was at a possible risk of building being built on the island and the indigenous people and Mabo wanted to make sure that didn’t happen and that they could keep it safe. The Meriam people believed that they were the original owners of the land as well as the nearby seas and that the non-indigenous Australians had no land right to the land. The court case took 10 years of fighting by the Meriam people, and most importantly and especially Eddie Mabo. Finally on June 3rd 1992 the Meriam people were announced the true owners of the island and they were granted their land rights. This case gave many other Indigenous people an opportunity in life and gave others courage to stand up for themselves and their land which worried the government as much of the disputed land was being used for profitable purposes.
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