Mabo v Queensland - Case study PDF

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Summary

Case study...

Description

Name of Case

Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1

Citation and Court Material Facts

Meriam people were in occupation of the Murray Islands before the first European contact. Queensland annexed Murray Islands on 10 October 1878 (exactly 4 years after Fiji.) Dominant purposes for annexation found by Moynihan J: (a) Command of the Torres Strait and the sea lane to India (b) Control of fishery industry in Torres Strait (c) The protection of shipping and shipwrecked crews (d) Extension of jurisdiction to non-British subjects and native inhabitants (e) The protection of the native inhabitants In 1882, Queensland Government ‘reserved’ Murray Island for native inhabitants.

Legal Issue

Oversimplified, main question is whether the transactions vested in the Crown absolute ownership of, legal possession of and exclusive power to confer title to, all land in the Murray Islands.

Relevant Law

Native Title Act 1993

Application of Law to the Facts

The Native Title Act 1993 established a process for claiming and recognising native title lands and waters in Australia. The NTA aims to balance Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples' rights to land, and sets out how native title rights and interests fit within Australian law.

Conclusion

The Mabo case ran for 10 years. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia decided that terra nullius should not have been applied to Australia. This decision recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to the land – rights that existed before the British arrived and can still exist today....