Eddie Mabo History

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INTRODUCTION AND FACTS- In 1770 the British arrived in Australia for the first time and they declared the land as Terra Nullius. This meant that the land of Australia belonged to no one and as a result and by Australian Law, the British could claim it as their own. When the British did arrive, they did not classify the indigenous Australians as people. They thought that the indigenous Australians had different ways of living. For instance, indigenous Australians lived in huts made out of tree bark and leaves while the British lived in civilisation. The British were extremely shocked when they saw how the indigenous Australians lived. They were so shocked with the most minimal amount of civilisation that the Indigenous Australians had. From…show more content…
AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TODAY? “We went on strike from the white man….They never gave us enough money…They treated us like dogs…we got angry about that” – long John Kijngayari, Aboriginal Protester, 1966 This is a very famous quote from an Aboriginal protestor named Long John Kijngayari. He was not the only Indigenous Australian who fought for land rights. Eddie Mabo was another man who wanted to gain land rights for himself and other indigenous Australians. Eddie Mabo decided to take part in the land rights argument when he found out that his birth place was not his nor was it his families. This news had really upset Eddie Mabo, and so many more protests had begun. Eddie Mabo started putting up law suits against the British, and slowly Indigenous Australians started to receive more land rights. In 1993, the government passed the Native Title Act which had certain rules and regulations that had to be followed by courts in the…show more content…
There would be no diversity and multiculturalism in Australia today. There could have been a high chance that Australia would have been a country with a high amount of racism and discrimination towards any race that is not European. Indigenous Australians would have been completely segregated and they would have been continuously treated like animals. No respect or mercy would have been given towards Indigenous Australians. Because of Eddie Mabo Australia is nothing like it used to be. This country is an extremely multicultural land and we have high respect for those who were on this land before the British arrived. The culture of Indigenous Australians has been passed on from generation to generation and thankfully it is still alive today and these traditions will continue to
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