About Eddie Mabo
Edward Koiki Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander man, known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights in Australia, in particular the landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that recognised that indigenous rights to land had continued after the British Crown acquired sovereignty and that the international law doctrine of terra nullius was not applicable to Australian domestic law. High court judges considering the case Mabo v Queensland found in favour of Mabo, which led to the Native Title Act 1993 and established native title in Australia, officially recognising the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. In June 2014, the annual Eddie Mabo Award for Social Justice was created as one of three awards at the newly-established National Indigenous Human Rights Awards in Sydney, New South Wales. On 24 August 2015, Tony Abbott became the first Prime Minister of Australia to visit Mabo's grave on Murray Island, where he paid tribute to his legacy. The centre is a research, training, and knowledge exchange centre created as a joint initiative between the National Native Title Council (NNTC) and the University of Melbourne, focused on native title agreements.
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