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Eddie Koiko MaboPrint Page Print this page

The Library named after Eddie Koiko Mabo commemorates the link between the man who changed the land laws of Australia and James Cook University.

Eddie Mabo taught himself English by reading dictionaries while working on pearl luggers in the Torres Strait, and had little formal education. Mabo was a 34-year-old gardener at the university in 1974 when he discovered he did not legally own his traditional homeland of Mer Island in the Torres Strait. The realisation prompted the father of seven to start poring over legal texts and anthropological books, and then eventually challenge in the High Court the notion of ' terra nullius, the legal sleight of hand that held Australia was unoccupied when it was first claimed by the British.

Mabo died on January 21, 1992, just months before the High Court overturned ' terra nullius ', but his work almost single-handedly forced the authorities to recognise native title in a decision that has seen hundreds of successful indigenous land claims, and prompted ' The Australian ' newspaper to name him its Australian of the Year in 1993.

Location

Address:James Cook Drive, James Cook University, Eddie Koiki Mabo Library, Douglas, 4811
State:QLD
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -19.328611
Long: 146.758056
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Structure
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Indigenous

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Wednesday 21st May, 2008
Front Inscription

Plaque:

The plaque commemorates
the official naming of the 
Eddie Koiki Mabo Library
               by 
The Hon. Jenny Macklin M.P. 
Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services 
 and Indigenous Affairs
       21 May 2008
 

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au