biography
pronunciation:
[mahboh]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1940–92)
|
| biography:
| Traditional leader of the Meriam people of Murray I in Torres Strait, Australia. In 1982, with four other Meriam people, he began legal proceedings against the Queensland government, seeking recognition of their traditional ownership of the island and its surrounding seas. He persisted with the case, and in 1992 the High Court of Australia held that the Australian common law recognizes a form of native title, making it a landmark case which overturned the 18th-c notion of terra nullius. The victory for Eddie Mabo was posthumous, but the decision was so controversial that his case rapidly became a cause célèbre. |
|
|
