1967 Essay

After 10 long years Torres Strait Islander Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo has lead indigenous Australians to a victory over the Queensland government. This win this case is a historical moment, as of yesterday, the indigenous Australians have been recognised as the owners of Murray Island. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are known to have resided in Australia, 40,000 to 60,000 years before the British arrived in 1788. When the British took over they decided to take all the land for themselves even though the indigenous Australians were here first. This court case recognises indigenous Australians unique connection to the land and acknowledges that they have the rights to the land.

In the 1980’s, national campaigns for land rights laws began and Eddie spoke at a 1981 land rights conference on land rights in the Torres Straits. On hearing his speech, Lawyer, H. C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs, encouraged Eddie and other Meriam people to establish ownership of their lands through the High Court of Australia, and on 20 May 1982, Koiki and four other Meriam Men began their fight for ownership of their lands on Murray and Dauar Islands through the Australian High Court. Koiki was named the first plaintiff, so the case became known as the Mabo Case. Research grants from AIATSIS helped out with the case, but the Queensland Government introduced a sneaky new law in 1985 to crush their chances for native title. Koiki and his colleagues challenged this new law and won, as the High Court found in 1988, this new Queensland law breached Australian racial discrimination laws—Mabo v. Queensland [No. 1].

The Mabo decision of the high court in 1992 is vastly significant as it marks history as the victory of indigenous Australian land rights against the federal government, who had colonised their land and refused to acknowledge that Australia was originally owned by the ATSI people but became a terra nullius land due to the European colonists. The events that have occurred before 1992 such as the The Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) of 1976 and the bark petition is deemed less significant than the Mabo decision. I firmly believe that the Mabo case is an extraordinary achievement. it started in 1982 when Eddie Mabo brought up a case against the supreme court of Queensland that Indigenous Australians should have land rights. After almost a whole

Eddie Mabo and the Mabo Decision As campaigns for improved human rights were gathering momentum across all of Australia (and indeed the globe) in the 1980s, five Torres Strait Islanders (Eddie Koiki Mabo, Sam Passi, Reverend Dave Passi, James Rice and Celuia Mapo Salee) began a long campaign for ‘Native Title’, forever changing the country’s views on Indigenous Australians and the impact of settlement. The notion of land rights was often misunderstood by Australian people who believed they would have their suburban lands taken off them. This meant non-Indigenous support for native title was rare. However, Mabo real aim was to receive legal recognition of their traditional lands in the Torres Strait – area that because of terra nullius was

On 27 May 1967 a Federal referendum was held. The 1967 referendum did not give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the right to vote. That right had been legislated for Commonwealth elections in 1962, with the last State to provide Indigenous enfranchisement being Queensland in 1965. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders have had multiple campaigns to try and uphold the same rights as white people. The 1967 referendum was a public vote to determine the public 's opinions of two aspects of the Australian constitution (a written statement which outlines the country 's rules and regulations) that related directly to Indigenous Australians.

After Clague’s contribution during the 1967 referendum, many ATSI peoples were more socially accepted due to the government recognising them as part of the population. The government accepting Aborigines as humans meant that they were politically acknowledged and able to be citizens of Australia, earning themselves passports and the ability to fly overseas. Before being politically accepted ATSI peoples weren’t allowed to be given passports if they identified as being Aboriginal (Australian Screen, 2017). Culturally speaking, after white settlement, almost all native land belonging to aboriginal peoples was ripped away from them, wounding connections between Aborigines and their ancestors. Joyce Clague’s rescue of ATSI people’s native lands, political acceptance toward Aborigines and social approval of being human all contributed largely to the livelihoods of ATSI

Australia had signed up to the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1966, but the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was the first time that anti-discrimination legislation was laid down in the Federal parliament. The legislation meant that any previous discriminatory laws were automatically overturned and that that no restrictions, exclusions or distinctions could be made in Australian society on the basis of race, colour, nationality or descent. Whitlam saw it as a victory over bigotry and prejudice, and not just solely aimed at improving the lives of the Indigenous peoples. Many people also saw the events of 1975 as another milestone on the road towards equality for the Aboriginal

As stated in the handout given in class, “The referendum provided a vehicle for change by empowering the Commonwealth to protectionism and assimilation.” Before the referendum, the States of Australia made laws which discriminated against and denied basic human rights such as being free to live where they wish, having access to education, receiving the same wages as non-Aboriginal people, etc. to Aboriginal people. The referendum did not guarantee such change — For the first five years after the referendum the Australian Government did not make any significant changes, as the referendum did not actually give the government full responsibility to make positive changes for Aboriginal people, it simply “opened the door for Australian Government involvement” as put by the Australian Constitution and 1967 Referendum Fact Sheet. The ongoing political commitment would be the only way to make sure the changes stayed in place; Something that fell short 50 years

The first women in Australian that were able to vote were in South Australia, in 1895 , and quickly, other states and territories followed. This leap in women’s rights changed Australia into a nation of equality, and moved the nation into the next stage of cultural independence. Vida Goldstein was a Victorian citizen who followed in her mother’s footsteps in becoming a social reformer and a suffragist. She was firmly encouraged by her parents to become educated and independent, and this led her to become the leader in Victoria for women’s equality. She was an excellent public speaker, and this enabled her to grasp her audience and effect and change their opinions on women’s equality.

This paper will give an overview of the act and how it impacted the Indigenous community into becoming

When looking at these direct factors of why the protest started, it is necissary to understand that more then 100 years of injustices had also lead to this turning point. On the 26th of January 1972 (Australia Day) former prime minister Billy Mcmahan announced that his government would never grant Aboriginal land rights (Tan, 2016). Mcmahon had chosen the most provocative day possible to announce this as many Aboriginal people consider this to be invasion day. In doing so it can Aboriginal activists were forced to make some sort of stand, they chose to do this in the form of a non-violent protest on the lawns parliament house in Canberra. Four activists from Redfern went there and sat on the front lawn in with, at the start, only a beach umbrella (Tan, 2016).

There is a conflict over if the 1950’s been the happy days or was it the bad days. There were many new things starting to come out, we had just came out of war and are producing many new things. What was more important? The 1950’s were not the happy days.

The Mabo decision changed the legal, political and social relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. In recognising the traditional rights of Murray Islanders it changed Australia forever. The Mabo decision opened the doors for other indigenous people and groups to be able to claim ownership of land. They were required to prove that they had continuous connection to the land and maintained their traditional associating with it. The 'native title ' is the recognition by law that some aboriginal and torres strait islander people have rights to certain land due to their traditional laws and customs.

The issue of not changing Australia day can be very sensitive to indigenous people The date suggestion of moving Australia day to another date is 1st of January, 25th of April (Anzac day) or the 1st of September (wattle day). The solution that Smith proposed was January 26th is a date that’s orientated towards when we gained our independence from British rule or perhaps a date bases on when Mathew Flinders when he first used the word ‘Australia’. The intended audience of this article is everyday Australian multi-cultural Australians. Smith focuses most of his attention trying to persuade people to change 26th of January (Australia day) to change it to First Fleet Day instead.

The novel ‘Jasper Jones’ by Craig Silvey is centred around a young man named Charlie Bucktin living in the little Australian town of Corrigan in the late 1960 's. Charlie is presented with the issues of racial prejudice, shamefulness, and moral dishonesty. He is tested to address the idealism of right from wrong and acknowledges that the law doesn 't generally maintain equity. The thoughts are depicted through Silvey 's utilization of story traditions which are to either challenge or reinforce our values, states of mind and convictions on the issues brought before us. The 1960 's was an extremely dull period for numerous individuals whose race was recognizably unique - different to that of the “white” population.