Guide to the Papers of Edward Koiki Mabo

Series 2. Employment and personal papers, 1943-1992

Copies of photographs of Mabo and others (File Folio 5)

Some copies were supplied by Mrs Mabo and others were made from photographs in the Mabo Papers or Mabo-related collections.

Eddie Mabo at James Cook University, early 1980s

Series 8. Land claim, 1981-1992

In 1981, at a conference on indigenous land rights in Townsville, a decision was made to pursue a native land title claim for the people of the Murray Islands in the High Court of Australia. In 1982, Mabo and four other Islander plaintiffs instituted proceedings against the State of Queensland, claiming that their islands had been continuously inhabited and exclusively possessed by their people who lived in permanent settled communities. They acknowledged that the British Crown became sovereign of the islands upon annexation, but claimed continuous enjoyment of their land rights which had not been validly extinguished by the sovereign through the granting of freehold title or land leases to others...

Manuscript and typescript of speech given by Mabo at the Land Rights and Future of Australian Race Relations Conference, James Cook University, Townsville, August 1981 (File 1)

Edward Mabo's land rights for Torres Strait Islanders speech (handwritten)