Land Rights Advocate
In 1981 a land rights conference was held at James Cook University and Mabo made a speech to the audience where he explained the land inheritance system on Murray Island. The significance of this in terms of Australian common law doctrine was taken note of by one of the attendees, a lawyer, who suggested there should be a test case to claim land rights through the court system.
Of the eventual outcome of that decision a decade later, Henry Reynolds said, "... it was a ten year battle and it was a remarkable saga really."
Read more about this topic: Eddie Mabo
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