03/06/2026
Today, 3rd June, we mark Mabo Day - a landmark moment in Australian history and a celebration of courage, justice, and then enduring connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to Country.
On this day in 1992, the High Court of Australia delivered its historic ruling in the Mabo case, overturning the colonial fiction of terra nullius - the idea that this land belonged to no one before British settlement. It was a profound turning point, not just legally, but in how Australia began to reckon honestly with its past.
At the heart of that decision was Eddie Koiki Mabo - a Meriam man from the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait - whose decade-long fight for his people's land rights changed the course of this nation. Tragically, Eddie passed away just five months before the ruling was handed down. His legacy lives on in every native title claim, every acknowledgement of Country, and every step forward on the path to justice.
Today we honour Eddie Mabo, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples whose deep, continuous connection to Country was never extinguished - no matter what the law once said.
