While working in Townsville, Eddie Koiki Mabo discussed Mer (Murray Island) land inheritance and ownership with James Cook University academics Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds—conversations that helped crystallize the legal significance of Meriam land law and foreshadowed a test case.
At the Townsville/JCU conference “Land Rights and the Future of Australian Race Relations”, Mabo explained Meriam land tenure and inheritance. A lawyer in attendance suggested pursuing a court test case, helping set the litigation in motion.
Eddie Koiki Mabo, Sam Passi, Reverend David Passi, James Rice, and Celuia Mapo Sale began legal proceedings in the High Court seeking recognition of their rights to land on Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait—what became known as the Mabo case.
Queensland passed the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985 to retroactively extinguish any native title rights in the Murray Islands after annexation, aiming to defeat the Meriam plaintiffs’ court claim.
In Mabo v Queensland (No 1), the High Court held the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act inconsistent with the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) and therefore invalid—removing a key legislative barrier to the main native title claim.
As part of fact-finding required for the High Court proceedings, Justice Martin Moynihan and counsel held Supreme Court sittings on Mer (Murray Island) to record testimony about Meriam law, custom, and land tenure—evidence central to proving continuing traditional connection.
As the case neared judgment, Commonwealth government attention focused on possible legal and policy responses to the expected consequences of a native title ruling, reflected in Cabinet-era records and contemporaneous planning for national implications.
The High Court heard substantive argument in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) over multiple days, building the basis for a decision on whether Australian common law could recognize Indigenous land rights (native title) and reject terra nullius.
Eddie Koiki Mabo died of cancer in Brisbane, months before the High Court delivered its ruling; the case continued in his name and ultimately transformed Australian land law.
The High Court handed down Mabo v Queensland (No 2), recognizing that native title exists under Australian common law and rejecting the legal fiction of terra nullius. The ruling affirmed Meriam people’s traditional rights to Mer (Murray Island), subject to extinguishment by valid government acts.
Eddie Mabo, the Mabo case and Torres Strait native title claims (1976–1992)
