Bonita Mabo MOTHER of NATIVE TITLE

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Bonita Mabo MOTHER of NATIVE TITLE Elimatta Aboriginal Support Group - Manly Warringah Pittwater NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2018 BENNELONG GRAVESITE SAVED BONITA MABO MOTHER OF NATIVE TITLE YABUN 26TH JANUARY 2019 WILL YOU BE THERE? ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER READERS ARE ADVISED THAT THIS NEWSLETTER CONTAIN NAMES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIED ASG ACKNOWLEDGES THE GURINGAI PEOPLE, THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS OF THE LANDS AND THE WATERSTHE OF MAGAZINIA THIS AREA | -1- BONITA MABO Mother of Native Title INDIGENOUS activist Dr Ernestine ‘Bonita’ Mabo AO has been remembered as the ‘mother of native title’ and ‘matriarch of reconciliation’ ONITA MABO, commissioner June Oscar re- It closed in 1985 due to a lack of “[I was] disappointed he wasn’t Prominent membered her as “the mother of funding. there … for the judgement to Indigenous and South native title”. The Mabo decision come down early enough. Sea Islander rights ac- B “She was a woman of great Eddie Mabo spent a decade “But on his deathbed he knew tivist Bonita Mabo has died strength. She was gentle, stoic and he kept saying: ‘when I win days after receiving accolade. fighting for official recognition and loving,” Ms Oscar said in a of his people’s ownership of Mer the case, when I win the case’.” Mabo was the wife of statement. Eddie Mabo and worked Island in the Torres Strait. Recognising South Sea Islanders alongside him in the pursuit “I will always remember her as Space to play or pause, M to In recent years, Mabo had been of Indigenous land rights. the mother of native title. Her mute, left and right arrows to fighting for South Sea Islanders Just days ago she was award- legacy lives on in our continuing seek, up and down arrows for to be recognised in Australia as ed an Honorary Doctorate fight for land and sea rights.” volume their own distinct ethnic group. of Letters from James Cook Indigenous education was a life- Her husband did not live to see She was recognised in the Order University for her contribu- long passion the result, but in 1992 Bonita of Australia in 2013 for “distin- tion to social justice and human Mabo was a Malanbarra woman Mabo was making her way from guished service to the Indige- rights. and a descendant of Vanuatuan North Queensland to Canberra nous community and to human “It’s a big loss for us all,” Indige- workers brought to Queensland when the landmark decision was rights”. nous WA senator Patrick Dod- to work on sugar plantations. handed down. “I feel so honoured to be part of son said. She was born near Ingham in In 2017, she recalled that mo- it,” Mabo said at the time. “I think Australia needs to hon- North Queensland and married ment. Mabo was often asked about our people like Mrs Mabo who Eddie in 1959. “We were just outside of Sydney her work with Eddie, but while stood, to some degree, in the The couple had 10 children and and we stopped and pulled up on speaking about the Order of shadows of her husband, but Indigenous education became the side of the road and Malita Australia, she said she made sure who was the backbone and the one of Mabo’s lifelong passions. rang us and said ‘dad won the to tell people: “Well, I’ve got an- steel that helped he and many Bonita Mabo has received one decision, won the case’,” she said. other side too.” others to continue the struggles. of James Cook University’s high- “And we just jumped out and we “I’m a South Sea Islander “A person of great note; a great est awards, an Honorary Doctor just hugged each other. descendent. My great grand- Australian and great contribu- of Letters, in recognition of her RIP Bonita Mabo. Eddie and father came from the Tanna Is- tion to the cause of justice to all. outstanding contribution to the Bonita’s fight and victory re- lands and was stolen out here … “It’s a sad day. It’s a big loss for communityIn the early 1970s, made our world & secured rights to come and clean the country all of us. But she is a person who she set up Australia’s first Ab- unimaginable for 200 years. up here,” she said. comes in the vain of the very re- original community school and Condolences to family and Mer “And well, when I start saying cent recognition that ‘because of worked as a teacher’s aide. Nations. that, they sit up and listen.” her, we can do things’.” “For black children … we could “We were proud as punch.” Jackie Huggins, co-chair of the In a statement, The Australian see how they were … they used National Congress of Australia’s to go to school and they’d get The Mabo case was legally sig- South Sea Islander Alliance said nificant in Australia because it First People’s, said Mabo was “a she would “be greatly missed”. blamed for different things,” she mother to all of us in the political said in a 2013 interview. ruled the lands of this continent “Aunty Bonita’s contribution to were not “terra nullius” or “land struggle”. social justice and human rights “I used to go up to the school and belonging to no-one” when Eu- “She left a legacy of great com- for First Nations People and the I used to have arguments with ropean settlement occurred. passion, of being the woman Australian South Sea Islander the teachers and many times who was behind Eddie Mabo, they cried and I didn’t care be- It found the Meriam people, tra- recognition was monumental ditional owners of the Murray her husband, in his fight for jus- and relentless,” the statement cause I’d said what I’d wanted to tice and human rights,” she said. say.” Islands, including the islands of read. Mer, Dauer and Waier, were “en- “She was also an activist in her “A formidable ‘Woman Tanna’, The Black Community School titled against the whole world to own right. started in Townsville with 10 Aunty Bonita will be greatly possession” of the lands. “She was a great legend across missed as Australia has lost one students and two teachers who volunteered for half pay. The case paved the way for the this whole nation. of the greatest matriarchs of all Native Title Act of 1993. time.” The school taught children to “Like her husband, her legacy In an interview with the ABC in will always live on.” We lost a great soul. She fought read and write, and Torres Strait Islander history and culture. 2013, Mabo said she had to be for our peoples and our rights, there for her husband “all the Aunty Bonita Mabo will be sore- At its peak in the late 1970s, 45 way”. ISABELLA HIGGINS ly missed Aboriginal and Tor- students were enrolled at the res Strait Islander social justice school. “Thick or thin, we made it,” she INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS REPORTER said. 2 | THE ELIMATTA BENNELONG GRAVESITE SAVED he grave site of Aboriginal Affairs and legendary Aboriginal local community. Bennelong has been T The multi-million dollar saved by the purchase of purchase follows a cam- the Putney house where paign by The Weekly he is believed to be bur- Times to create a me- ied by The NSW State morial at the gravesite, Government. which will include a The State Government dedication to commem- will spend around $3 orate the impact of British million to purchase a settlement on the Aborig- Putney home that inal people of Sydney. contains the gravesite A City of Ryde coun- of Aboriginal leader cil meeting in April this Bennelong and will turn year passed a motion to the site into a memorial. protect the grave and “Bennelong is the first Mayor Jerome Laxale significant connection congratulated The Week- between our two cultures ly Times and Mr Roberts. and it is important that “It is great that Council we protect and preserve and The Weekly Times this site as an important have been part of the piece of our nation’s project and we thank Mr history”, Lane Cove MP Roberts for securing the Anthony Roberts said. funding,” he said. “Given its significance University announced cal Federal electorate In April this year – in re- we need to make sure that he had locat- named after him,” he sponse to The Weekly we are taking all the ed Bennelong’s grave said. Times’ campaign – the between the home and appropriate steps to en- It is not known who is City of Ryde passed a parkland, prompting The sure we manage the site buried in a grave beside motion which stated: Weekly Times and former in a way that is respectful Bennelong although “The City of Ryde aims Ryde Mayor Vic Tagg to and in line with community academics speculate to progress further the launch the campaign to values. that it could be local investigation regarding have the site recognised Aboriginal Nanberry, “We need to make sure the potential burial site in by a memorial. we are protecting our Putney and to progress who died in 1821 and heritage and preserving any measures required to The Weekly Times Man- requested to buried the past.” protect the site.” aging Editor John F Booth with Bennelong. AM said front page ap- Bidgee Bidgee, who A committee will be Bennelong died on peals to commemorate led the Kissing Point established to discuss the January 3, 1813 at Kissing Bennelong had paid off. next steps for the site’s Point on the Parramat- clan for twenty years future.
Recommended publications
  • Community Engagement Plan
    Aboriginal + Torres Strait Islander COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PLAN St Teresa’s College, Abergowrie seeks to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, families and communities through active engagement and collaborative partnerships, have equitable access to quality education that is mutually enriching for all. ST TERESA’S COLLEGE We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land the Warragamay people and pay our respects to the elders both past, present and future for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Aboriginal Australia. We must always remember that under the concrete and asphalt this land, is, was and always will be traditional Aboriginal land. In addressing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at Alice Springs in 1986, Pope John Paul ll said: “You are part of Australia and Australia is a part of you. And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you [the Indigenous peoples of Australia] have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.” Address of John Paul II to the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in Alice Springs, 29 November 1986 [online]. The Australasian Catholic Record, Vol. 83, No. 3, July 2006: 259-263. CONTEXT PURPOSE INTRODUCTION Warrgamay REGIONS WE WORK WITH Torres Strait Islands St Teresa’s College Abergowrie, is a Parents, carers, families and communities play a crucial role in St Teresa’s College, Abergowrie Traditional Owners Northern Penninsular Area Catholic secondary boys’ boarding College supporting successful learning outcome for children. This strategy respects, affirms and located in the Herbert River Valley, 38kms is about the College engaging with parents and communities to acknowledges the position of The College seeks to engage the Gulf of Carpentaria from Ingham, situated on Warragamay work together to maximise student-learning outcomes.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian South Sea Islanders, Or of Dual Australian-South Sea Islander Heritage
    Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia Submission 185 Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia Submission 185 Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia Submission 185 Committee Secretary 10 June 2017 Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Statement in support of a Modern Slavery Act for Australia Dear Members of the Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee, We thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to your inquiry into a Modern Slavery Act for Australia. We take this opportunity to ask the Australian Parliament to remember Australia’s relationship with slavery, through the practice of Blackbirding. Between 1840 and 1950 the Pacific labour trade moved 1.5 million Indigenous and Asian individuals around the Pacific, with 62,000 of these contracts binding Pacific Islanders to work in Australia between 1847 and 1906. Many thousands died from common diseases during the first months of arrival. An astounding 15,000 of these mainly young men died before their prime. When the White Australia Policy was introduced after Federation, there were 10,000 Melanesian immigrants in Australia; more than half were deported up to 1908. In many cases they were displaced from their home islands are returned to mission and government stations. Today about 50,000 people identify as Australian South Sea Islanders, or of dual Australian-South Sea Islander heritage. The Australian South Sea Islander Association tries to reconnect displaced ASSI families here in Australia and the Pacific. We have a strong kinship with Indigenous Australians because South Sea Islanders intermarried with indigenous Australian in Torres Strait and on the east coast mainland.
    [Show full text]
  • 2011 Mabo Oration: Terri Janke
    2011 Mabo Oration: Terri Janke Mrs Bonita Mabo, the Mabo family, Commissioner Kevin Cocks, Bryan Keon-Kohen QC, Bill Lowah, fellow Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people, and those who have come to celebrate the opening of The Torres Strait Islands: A Celebration. I acknowledge the Anti- Discrimination Commission Queensland and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre for hosting tonight's oration. I pay respect to all the traditional owners of the Brisbane area, and all elders past and present. Thank you Eddie Ruska for your welcome to country. Whenever I hear a welcome to country given from the heart, I feel strengthened and encouraged. I am honoured to present the Mabo Oration, not only as a lawyer, but as a Torres Strait Islander. I have two grandmothers who were born in the Torres Strait. My paternal grandmother is Agnes Blanco. She was born in 1921 on Murray Island in the village of Gigrid, of the Peibre clan. She was the daughter of Azzie Leyah, a Meriam woman and Victor Blanco. Victor's mother Annie, who married Juan Blanco from the Phillipines, was from Old Mapoon in Cape York. Grandma Agnes attended Sacred Heart Convent on Thursday Island (TI), before moving to the mainland during the Second World War. My maternal grandmother is Modesta (Maudie) Mayo who was born on TI and her Torres Strait Islander heritage can be traced back to Gebar Island. She too attended Sacred Heart Convent. Maudie married Kitchell Anno, of Wuthathi and Malay descent. He was also born on TI. They moved to Cairns in the 1940s where my mother and father were born.
    [Show full text]
  • Reformulating Native Title in Mabo's Wake: Aboriginal Sovereignty and Reconciliation in Post- Centenary Australia Carlos Scott Lopez
    Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law Volume 11 | Issue 1 Article 3 9-1-2003 Reformulating Native Title in Mabo's Wake: Aboriginal Sovereignty and Reconciliation in Post- Centenary Australia Carlos Scott Lopez Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tjcil Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Carlos S. Lopez, Reformulating Native Title in Mabo's Wake: Aboriginal Sovereignty and Reconciliation in Post-Centenary Australia, 11 Tulsa J. Comp. & Int'l L. 21 (2003). Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tjcil/vol11/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by TU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law by an authorized administrator of TU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REFORMULATING NATIVE TITLE IN MABO'S WAKE: ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGNTY AND RECONCILIATION IN POST-CENTENARY AUSTRALIA Carlos Scott L6pezt I. INTRODUCTION AND RECENT CURRENT EVENTS Few issues have spurred more vigorous debate among Australia's citizenry than Native Title and, more broadly, the roles of Native Australians.' Like most former colonial outposts, the settlement of the Australian continent was marked by nothing less than an invasion by a European power (Great Britain), which subsequently imposed its will on the Native Peoples living in its newly "discovered" lands. These peoples were viewed as largely uncivilized and in need of protection. Hundreds of years later the debate continues over how to reconcile the present with the past. 'Co-Director, Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization at The Yale Law School (New Haven, CT, USA) and formerly with the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) and the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia).
    [Show full text]
  • Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida and the Question of Otherness
    2010 - 2020 Free Online Magazine From Village Earth May 2021 We the People A lament for India Mark Ulyseas 2021 may © liveencounters.net L I V E E N C O U N T E R S M A G A Z I N E May 2021 Support Live Encounters. Donate Now and Keep the Magazine Live in 2021 Live Encounters is a not-for-profit free online magazine that was foundedhuman/animal in 2009 rights in Bali, activists, Indonesia. academics, It showcases environmentalists, some of the best writing from around the world. Poets, writers, academics, civil & social workers, photographers and more have contributed their timeLive Encountersand knowledge Magazine for the (2010), benefit ofLive the Encounters readers of: Poetry & Writing (2016), Live Encounters Young Poets & Writers (2019) Live Encounters Books (August 2020). andWe arenow, appealing for donations to pay for the administrative and technical aspects of the publication. Please help by donating any amount for this just cause as events are threatening the very future of Live Encounters. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om Mark Ulyseas Publisher/Editor [email protected] ©Mark Ulyseas All articles and photographs are the copyright of www.liveencounters.net and its contributors. Lotus in a temple. Photograph by Mark Ulyseas. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the explicit written permission of www. liveencounters.net. Offenders will be criminally prosecuted to the full extent of the law prevailing in their home country and/or elsewhere. ©liveencounters.net may 2021 Celebrating 11th Anniversary 2021 may © liveencounters.net May 2021 Contributors Mark Ulyseas Dr Howard Richards Dr Caroline Higgins Kathleen Mary Fallon Dr Agayajit Singh Dr Ramneet Kaur Professor Deepa Sethi Marissa Slaven - Review of book by Mary Woodbury ©liveencounters.net may 2021 Celebrating 11th Anniversary 2021 may © liveencounters.net A L A M E N T F O R I N D I A M A R K U L Y S E A S Markjournalist Ulyseas and has photo-grapher.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Heritage and Identity in the Literature of Australian South Sea Islanders and Other Media
    etropic 12.1 (2013) : TransOceanik Special Edition | 33 Cultural Heritage and Identity in the Literature of Australian South Sea Islanders and Other Media Carine Davias PhD session Paul Valéry University in Montpellier, France Abstract Australian South Sea Islanders represent a small community whose ancestors mainly came from Melanesian Islands to work as indentured labour in the sugar cane plantations of Queensland from the 1860’s to the beginning of the 20th century. Many still live near the old sugar towns, but apart from an official recognition of their existence and distinctiveness by the Federal Government in 1994 and by the Queensland Government in 2000, South Sea Islanders’ culture, economic and political roles are still underrepresented or even ignored in Australia. In the 1970’s, writers belonging to that community, such as Faith Bandler, Mabel Edmund and Noel Fatnowna started to tell their own family history since the arrival of their first ancestors on the continent. These autobiographical accounts enabled them to reassert their identity as a culturally distinct group and to shed light on a part of Australia’s forgotten past. Other written testimonies followed at the beginning of the 21st century but the lack of young South Sea Islander writers induced us to look at their other means of expression to promote their culture and complete the missing parts of their personal and collective history. owadays in Australia, some 20,000 people identify themselves as Australian South Sea N Islanders because at least one of their ancestors had come from a Melanesian or a Polynesian island situated in the South Pacific area to work and settle in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Mabo-Press-Kit.Pdf
    MABO INTRODUCTION In 1973 Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo was shocked to discover that the ownership of the land his ancestors had passed down on Murray Island in the Torres Strait Islands for over 16 generations, was not legally recognised as theirs. Rather than accept this injustice, he began an epic fight for Australian law to recognise traditional land rights. Eddie never lived to see his land returned to him, but the name MABO Mabo is known in every household throughout the country. A STORY OF LOVE, PASSION & JUSTICE In January 1992, at only 55, Eddie died of cancer. Five months later the High Court overturned the notion of terra nullius. Underscoring this epic battle is Eddie’s relationship with his wife Bonita. MABO is as much a love story as a document of one man’s fight to retain what he believed was legally his. 103min telemovie Sunday 10 June 8.30pm MABO traces Eddie’s life - from a carefree young man of 17, through his courtship and marriage to his one true love, up to his death and the handing down of the High Court decision on that historic day - 3rd June 1992. PRODUCTION CREDITS abc.net.au/mabo Writer: Sue Smith. Director: Rachel Perkins. Producers: Darren Dale & Miranda Dear. Director of Photography: Andrew Commis ACS. Executive Producers: Carole Sklan, David Ogilvy, Sally Riley. Cultural Consultants: Gail Mabo & Charles Passi. catch up on iview For further information contact: Kris Way, ABC TV Publicity 02 8333 3844 / 0419969282 / [email protected] SYNOPSIS This television drama tells the story of one of Australia’s national heroes: Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander who left school at 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that once and for all overthrew the fiction of terra nullius.
    [Show full text]
  • Wantok Capacity Building Project 2013-2014 Final Report
    DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL COHESION PROGRAM WANTOK CAPACITY BUILDING PROJECT 2013-2014 FINAL REPORT It is apparent that ASSI-PJ and the Wantok conferences employ many tools for strength. They mobilise communities, commemorate tragedy, lobby governments and help individuals to learn about their families and reconnect with the culture of their ancestors. But perhaps the greatest strength is ASSI-PJ’s capacity to not only fight to change the future of ASSI people, but to feel grateful to be able to do so. - Bianca Hennessy 11 June 2014 LIST OF ATTACHMENTS A. Steering Group Profile B. News and media releases / Patron Bonita Mabo (MR) C. Forum materials, photographs and press (i) Wantok 2013 Tweed Heads (ii) Wantok 2013 Brisbane (iii) Wantok 2013 Mackay / Federal Parliament motion of regret D. Wantok Historical Advisory Group Profile E. Wantok Capacity Building Project Team Profile F. Letters from the the Hon. Victor Dominello and the Hon. Alex Greenwich re ABS / NSW Parliament motion G. Final Report H. Audited financial statements ATTACHMENT A WANTOK CAPACITY BUILDING PROJECT STEERING GROUP PROFILE ATTACHMENT A Emelda Davis – Tanna Island descendant Vanuatu. Group Chair Emelda Davis is the inaugural President of the interim national representative body for Australian South Sea Islanders (ASSI). Emelda and her mother Nellie Enares are founding members of the ASSI.PJ based in Sydney, NSW. In 2011 Emelda was elected as the main coordinator for the Wantok 2012 inaugural ASSI National Conference. Her skill base reflects diverse expertise and innovative capabilities for the delivery of community development, (education, training, media, marketing and awareness campaign strategies having worked for Federal, State Government, Community and grassroots organisations.
    [Show full text]
  • ASSIPJ Report 2011-2015 Chronological 140715
    Australian South Sea Islanders - Chronological achievements 2011-2015 OUR ORGANISATION: The Australian South Sea Islanders – Port Jackson (ASSI-PJ) represent the interests and human rights of Australian South Sea Islander (ASSI) people. It seeks to promote ASSI culture and identity as a culturally distinct group within Australia. ASSI-PJ works to ensure the ongoing social, economic, political and cultural wellbeing of ASSI people. The term “Australian South Sea Islander” (ASSI) refers to the Australian descendants of people brought to Australia from the Pacific as indentured slave laborers in 1847 (through Benjamin Boyd). Recruited to work and establish Australia’s sugar cane, maritime and pastoral industries. Today’s ASSI descendants trace their heritage across more than 80 Western Pacific islands including the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) in Melanesia, the Loyalty Islands, Samoa, Kiribati, Rotuma (Fiji), Tuvalu in Polynesia and Micronesia. ASSI share a unique cultural relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This evident cultural kinship with Australia’s First Nations Peoples is born out of an interconnected, socio- political history that has transformed the demographic genealogies through this labor trade and resultant inter-marriage. Today the most significant ASSI ‘colony’ is on Mua (St Pauls) Island, in the Torres Straits which saw an influx of South Sea Islanders transported there for pearling and bêche-de- mer industries through the London Missionary Society from 1870 onwards. The socio-historical impact of Australia’s indentured labor history, akin to slavery has left ASSI people marginalized, unrecognized, and even unknown to exist as citizens of Australia, with their significant labor contribution to the nation’s economic base hidden in history, and their own history hidden even from themselves as a community.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Australian South Sea Islander Bibliography 01 08
    HARDWORK: AUSTRALIAN SOUTH SEA ISLANDER BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND THE PACIFIC LABOUR TRADE The design for the Australian South Sea Islander 25th anniversary t-shirt by Joshua Yasserie from Mackay. The Australian South Sea Islanders flag was created in 1994. The line of flags begins with the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Australian flags, along with the flags of the islands of origin found in ASSI heritage (Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu). The central logo belongs to the Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) branch. It was designed by a founding member, artist Carriette Pangas (née Togo). CLIVE MOORE HARDWORK: AUSTRALIAN SOUTH SEA ISLANDER BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND THE PACIFIC LABOUR TRADE HARDWORK: AUSTRALIAN SOUTH SEA ISLANDER BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND THE PACIFIC LABOUR TRADE CLIVE MOORE Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) Limited (ASSIPJ) Publication details: Published by Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) Limited (ASSIPJ) PO Box 117, Pyrmont, NSW 2009 Print copies can be obtained from the above address or [email protected] Available free on-line at: http://www.assipj.com.au/ National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Clive Moore, 1951- author Title: Hard Work: Australian South Sea Islander Bibliography. With a Select Bibliography of the Sugar Industry, and the Pacific Labour Trade.
    [Show full text]
  • Edward Koiki Mabo: the Journey to Native Title
    Noel Loos Edward Koiki Mabo: The Journey to Native Title Noel Loos Edward Koiki Mabo preferred his Murray Islander name, Koiki, to the colonialist, Eddie, by which he was known to the Australian public. Koiki was the name used by other Murray islanders and by those white Australians who had become close friends and interacted with him over a long period of time. I had addressed him for so long as Eddie that it took me quite a while to change and then only as a result of his persistence. My wife, Betty, who saw him less frequently than I, had to do so many double takes, which they both found amusing, that Koiki eventually gave up. ‘You can call me Eddie!’ he laughed. He continued to use Eddie as his public name, probably because he thought it would have been too confusing to change it; and that was the name that was registered in 1982 in the high court challenge that led on 3 June 1992 to the acknowledgement of native title in Australia.1 By that time Koiki had been dead for just over four months. When George Mye, Eidi Papa, read his poem, ‘Who Was That Boy’ to the united nations working group on indigenous populations in Geneva in 1995, the name Eddie did not appear even though the poem counterpointed his childhood on Mer, Murray Island, with the fame he had achieved through destroying terra nullius.2 Apek kebile, the little boy from the other side of the island, was unafraid of lamar, ghost or spirit, and lug-le, sorceror.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Text of the 2015 Mabo Oration (PDF File, 660.2
    The Mabo High Court judgment: Was it the agent for change and recognition? Mabo Oration delivered by Dr Dawn Casey PSM FAHA presented by the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland and Queensland Performing Arts Centre 10 August 2015 1 I would like to acknowledge Jaggera and Turrbul traditional owners past and present. Uncle Bob Anderson. The Hon Dame Quentin Bryce The Hon Leanne Enoch, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Science and Innovation Mrs Bonita Mabo and her children Eddie Junior, Celua and Jessie Commissioner Kevin Cocks. It is a great honour to be asked to deliver the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland’s Mabo Oration. I am proud to be an Aboriginal woman and a descendant of the Tagalaka clan group from Croydon in North Queensland. And, as many of you in the audience will know, there is much pride in being a Queenslander particularly after the great State of Origin win this year. After the initial joy and excitement at being asked to be the orator I then realized the daunting task before me, knowing I am following in the footsteps of several of the most interesting and recognized Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in this country. Several issues influenced how I approached today’s oration to honour Eddie Koiki Mabo. They include this year being the Indigenous Land Corporation’s 20th anniversary, and the ongoing debate about how to amend Australia’s Constitution to recognize our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As the ILC was developing its 20th anniversary program, it became obvious that many of our young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may be aware of the Mabo judgment, but not of the negotiated settlement that followed the judgment—what is known as the ‘grand bargain’.
    [Show full text]