Kaurareg Tribal Council of Elders’ Seriat Young (centre) performs with the Kaurareg Dance Team at Mabo Day celebrations on Thursday Island. Photo: MARK ROY
THERE was a feeling of change in the air at the Mabo Day celebrations on Thursday Island,writes Mark Roy.
While the Federal Government is talking about changes to the Native Title Act, 20 years after the historic High Court decision on land rights, the talk here in the Torres Strait is about Islanders changing themselves.
Speaking at the 20th anniversary celebrations at the Port Kennedy Association Hall, Torres Shire Mayor Napau Pedro Stephen said the people of the Torres Strait had the power to control their own destiny.
“Yumi are people that are in charge of our environment,” Mayor Stephen said.
The theme of change was taken up by MC for the day, John Whop, who addressed the gathering at the hall following a Unity Walk on the island.
“The idea behind today is about change,” Mr Whop said.
“We hear Obama talk about change, and we hear our leaders talk about change. But we need to start looking at ourselves. This Mabo Day is about making change for ourselves.”
He told the Torres News the participation of non-Indigenous people in the celebrations was central to the process of reconciliation and recognising social injustice.
“Reconciliation is about working together and coming together as Australians, understanding our language, our culture, and our roots.”
Ultimately, Mabo Day is a day to remember the heroism of the Torres Strait’s own Eddie ‘Uncle Koiki’ Mabo.
Father Dalton Bon and Bua Mabo, who grew up on Mer (Murray Island) with Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo Photo: MARK ROY
The eldest of the elders on Mer, Fr Dalton Bon and Bua (Benjamin) Mabo, were best friends with Uncle Koiki while he was at school.
“We promised to name our sons after each other,” Mr Mabo said.
“His son was named Edward Benjamin, and mine was named Benjamin Edward.
“Me and Eddie Mabo are the sons of two sisters, Wakaline Boud and Maiga Mabo.
“Our teacher, Robert Victor Miles, helped Eddie gain the confidence to see things – to see the injustice – and Eddie came to acknowledge the differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous rights.”
Fr Bon said 20 years after the Mabo decision, the time now was right for change.
“Our present situation is that we need to be responsible for our own affairs,” Fr Bon said.
“We must change the name of the Torres Strait to Zenadth Kes, and get elders and leaders together to take full responsibility for land and sea, education, health … we can now take control.
“The time is here now. No more waiting.”
Fr Bon’s brother Ronald Bon, who also lives on Thursday Island, clearly remembers the days when ‘Uncle Koiki’ fought the Commonwealth Government for his land rights on Mer.
He said Uncle Koiki moved the boundary markers on his plot of land further into his neighbour’s plot – Mr Bon’s sister, Caroline Modee.
“I saw him working on one of the boats, and I asked him if he had moved the boundary markers, and he just smiled,” Mr Bon recalls.
“And I said to him, Koiki, you going to win this case.”
To prove the ownership of his traditional land, Eddie Mabo had to overturn the legal conceit of terra nullius – the idea that land in Australia had no formal system of land ownership before the arrival of European settlers.
“Uncle Koiki set the bait, and the government took it,” Mr Bon said.
“They had Caroline as one of their star witnesses in their case against his claim.”
In an ironic legal twist, by contesting the land claim on the basis of competing interests, the government in fact strengthened Uncle Koiki’s case.
“It proved there were already boundary markers showing who owned which bit of land,” Mr Bon said. “That overturned terra nullius.”
This is an extract from a story published in Torres News.
