Eddie Mabo was a Murray Islander who took his land rights case to the Australian High Court in 1982, arguing that Indigenous people had owned their lands for thousands of years. In 1993, the High Court overturned the doctrine of terra nullius and recognized native title. This recognized that Aboriginal people held rights and interests to their traditional lands prior to European settlement, even if the government had not formally recognized this. The 1996 Wik decision further established that native title could coexist with pastoral leases, allowing Indigenous groups to negotiate land usage with commercial interests like mining and pastoral companies.

1. Native Title , Mabo and Wik

2. Land Rights and Native Title
• In 1976 the Fraser Government passed laws to give
Aboriginals land rights.
• This did not mean that Aboriginals got their land
• The Law did not include States only Territories

3. Terra Nullius – No one’s land
• Captain Cook declared Eastern Australia to
be the property of the British Monarch
in 1770 at Endeavour River, Queensland.
• The land was assumed to belong to no one
TERRA NULLIUS
• The Aboriginal people were completely
ignored.
• Terra Nullius was the reason Justice
Blackburn denied the Yolngu claim in 1971

4. Eddie Mabo
• Eddie Mabo was a Murray
( Torres Strait) Islander –
• In 1982 Mabo took his land
case to court.
• He claimed that his people
had been owners of their
lands for at least 6000
years
• The case took 11 years
• In 1993 the High Court
decided that Mabo’s
people did own their land
• Eddie had died in 1992.

5. No more Terra Nullius
• Eddie Mabo died
before the decision
but his people now
owned their land
• Terra Nullius had
been abolished
• Native title is now
available all over
Australia

6. Mining and Pastoralists
• The Yolngu people
began their land
struggle against a
mining company
(Nabalco 1963)
• The Gurindgi people
began their struggle
against a pastoral
(meat) company
(Vesteys in 1966)

7. Money,Money,Money
• The Australian economy depends on
mining and cattle raising.
• This is all done on Aboriginal land
• The problem of Aboriginal ownership ,
mining and cattle raising remained.
• The question was; Can mining and
pastoral activity co exist on Aboriginal
land?

8. The WIK decision 1996
• In 1996 the High Court decided that
pastoral leases did not extinguish
native title
• The decision established the principle
of co existence
• Aboriginal people could own their land
and negotiate with commercial
companies to use that land.

9. Native Title in Green click for quiz

10. Actiities
• The Bark Petition - Australian History,
Indigenous Studies
• Watch the clip and read the notes