How Did Eddie Mabo Contribute To The Indigenous Rights Movement?

The Indigenous rights movement of 1958 was the ongoing struggle of Indigenous Australians to gain recognition, respect and protection of their rights, culture and land. It has become a growing trend among contemporary Australians in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Aboriginals have been demanding cultural preservation, political representation, social justice, reconciliation and land rights. Land rights were a significant issue in the Indigenous rights movement, dating back to 1788- when British colonisers declared that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had no concept of land ownership, abolishing any existing rights to land and claiming ownership of all land. The term terra nullius was then created, meaning ‘land belonging

The source was written from an outside perspective for students and educators, explicitly stating that the motivation for the Mabo case was the discrimination he faced and provides information about the legal arguments and the court’s decision. Implicitly, Haughton further presents the symbolic recognition of Indigenous people within the Australian legal system, contributing to a broader movement towards reconciliation and justice. Haughton’s report on Eddie Mabo is very useful as it provides information about Eddie Mabo’s main motivation for contributing to the Aboriginal rights movement, getting rejected for inheriting his father’s land. This source is extremely reliable as although it is a secondary source, it is from the Parliament of Australia, serving as a trusted source of information, analysis and advice since 1901. This supports the thesis, as Mabo’s determination in campaigning significantly helped the Aboriginal rights movement. As a young man, Mabo was exiled from Mer by colonial authorities for allegedly violating local customs, which separated him from his family and community. This forced exile added to the personal injustices he endured and highlighted the arbitrary and punitive measures

On 20 May 1982, Eddie Koiki Mabo began his legal claim for ownership of their lands on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The Torres Strait Islands Coastal Islands Act, which declared, "Any rights that Torres Strait Islanders had to land after the claim of sovereignty in 1879 is hereby extinguished without compensation," was passed by the State Parliament while the case was pending in the Queensland Court, per the High Court's order. The High Court heard a challenge to this legislation and ruled in Mabo No. 1. That the Act was illegal because it conflicted with the 1975 Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act (NTRU, 2008). The case summary retrieved from an Indigenous website, AIATSIS, 2008, explicitly explains how the Mabo decision by the High Court of Australia in 1992 overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, recognising the traditional land rights of the Meriam people. The source implicitly signifies a crucial step towards acknowledging Indigenous Australians' historical connection to the land and recognising the Aboriginal rights movement. IATSIS is a very reliable website as it is an Australian Government statutory authority therefore, it can be trusted. This source is useful as it provides true information about the government’s decision on the Mabo case. While