Mabo
The Man Behind The Story
Edward Koiki Mabo was born on Mer (Murray) Island in 1936, and was adopted by his uncle, Benny Mabo shortly following his mother's death. Eddie was exiled from the Island when he was 16, and worked across northern Queensland and the Torres Strait before settling in Townsville with his young family in 1962. Here he established Australia's first black community school in Australia, in 1973. Mabo's decision to engage in legal action against 'Terra Nullius' arose when working as a gardener for James Cook University. In 1974, he became involved in a discussion with two academics.He told them of his dream of ending his days on Murray Island, on the ancestral land that had been handed down through his family for 15 generations. According to accounts of the conversation, the two scholarly figures looked at each other and then, delicately, told Mabo that he didn't own the land and that it was Crown land. His eyes had been open to the greatest injustice his people had ever been subjected to. His initiative brought an end to a 2 -centuries-old lie .
The momentous legal case that finally acknowledged the history of Indigenous dispossession in Australia, abolished the legal fiction of “terra nullius”, and altered the foundation of Australian land law. Eddie Mabo inspired a generation of Indigenous people and their fight against inter-generational prejudice and inequality. The case for the change in Constitution progressed from the Queensland Supreme Court to the High Court of Australia. On the 3rd of June 1992, the High Court ruled by a majority of six to one the rights of Indigenous people to claim Native Title, overturning 'Terra Nullius'. This stepping stone in Australia's history politically motivated the biopic and docudrama Mabo.
Mabo tells the story of one of Australia's national heroes - Eddie Koiki Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander who left school at age 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that overthrew the fiction of 'terra nullius'. Written by Sue Smith and directed by Rachel Perkins the film stars Jim Bani as Eddie Mabo, Gedor Zaro as Young Eddie, Deborah Mailman as Bonita Mabo, Ewen Leslie as Bryan Keon-Cohe, Tom Budge as Greg McIntyre, Felix Williamson as Ron Castan, Leon Ford as Henry Reynolds and Lasarus Ratuere as Malcolm Mabo. It was produced by the ABC and Blackfella Films with the assistance of SBS. Released in 2012 the film premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in late August of that year.