Eddie Mabo
| Eddie Mabo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Eddie Koiki Sambo 29 June 1936 Mer, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 21 January 1992 (aged 55) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. |
| Spouse(s) | Bonita Mabo (m. 1959) |
| Children | 10 |
Eddie Mabo (c. 29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992) was an Indigenous Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia which overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius ("nobody's land") which characterised Australian law with regard to land and title.
Mabo was born Eddie Koiki Sambo but he changed his surname to Mabo when he was adopted by his uncle, Benny Mabo. He was born on the island of Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Mabo married Bonita Neehow, an Australian South Sea Islander, in 1959. The couple had seven children and adopted three more. One daughter, Gail, is an Aboriginal artist and dancer who works with schools in New South Wales as a cultural advisor and serves as the family's designated spokesperson.
Mabo worked on pearling boats, as a cane cutter, and as a railway fettler before becoming a gardener at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland at the age of 31. The time he spent on the campus had a massive impact on his life. In 1974, he was talking with JCU historians Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, and Loos recalls:
we were having lunch one day in Reynolds' office when Koiki was just speaking about his land back on Mer, or Murray Island. Henry and I realised that in his mind he thought he owned that land, so we sort of glanced at each other, and then had the difficult responsibility of telling him that he didn't own that land, and that it was Crown land. Koiki was surprised, shocked and even ... he said and I remember him saying 'No way, it's not theirs, it's ours.'
Later, when Mabo was a research assistant on an oral history project in the Torres Strait, Reynolds records:
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