| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (51 min. 59 sec.) ; 308903831 bytes |
| Summary |
Ep 7: We Are No Longer Shadows Queensland & The Torres Strait Islands (1967 - 1993)Directed by Rachel Perkins In the final episode of this landmark series, losing control of the land has the most devastating impact on the first Australians. The struggle for land rights continues to this day and one of its heroes is Eddie Koiki Mabo.The first Australians lost control of the land when the British Empire arrived. In every corner of the nation, this devastated every aspect of their spiritual and physical lives. The painful ramifications of this loss of land underpin the struggle for justice and equality that continues today. This struggle was seen, on a big scale, in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the symbolic establishment of the tent embassy in Canberra in the 1970s. No individual has had a more positive impact in the fight for land rights than Eddie Koiki Mabo, from the Torres Strait Island of Mer (Murray Island). He became involved in politics early in his life through the Aboriginal Advancement League, and at one stage is accused of being a communist. But it is while working as a gardener at the James Cook University that Mabo is prompted to take action that eventually changes the course of history. At lunch with two friends on the academic staff, Mabo talks about the love he has for his land on Murray Island, land that has been handed down from generation to generation. With some trepidation they tell him that, under Australian law, the land is not owned by his people but by the Crown.Driven by his astonishment at this revelation, and his anger at the injustice it represents, he devotes the rest of his life to proving it wrong. There are many setbacks along the way: soon after the statement of claim is lodged on behalf of Mabo and other Murray Island residents, the Queensland Government introduces legislation that undermines the case and, after that hurdle is overcome, the Queensland Supreme Court questions the legality of Mabo's adoption as an infant and therefore his rights as a claimant.But in 1992, the highest court in the land decides in Mabo's favour, overturning the notion of terra nullius, that is, the notion that the land belonged to no-one at the time of white settlement. The decision comes six months after Mabo's death from cancer and a decade after the case began. It has been a battle of wills on the scale of David and Goliath. Politicians, pastoralists and the mining industry proclaim the end of civilisation but this does not come to pass. (Commissioned by SBS, in English) (Documentary Series) |
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Closed captioning in English |
| Event |
Broadcast 2015-05-04 at 03:55:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: PG |
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Mabo, Eddie.
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Aboriginal Australians -- Land tenure.
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Culture conflict -- Political aspects.
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Native title (Australia)
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Torres Strait Islanders -- Land tenure.
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Queensland -- Torres Strait Islands.
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Queensland -- Murray Island.
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Streaming video
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Perkins, Rachel, 1970- director
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Brennan, Frank, contributor
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Briscoe, Gordon, contributor
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Day, Ron B., contributor
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Keon-Cohen, Bryan, contributor
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Langton, Marcia, contributor
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Loos, Noel, contributor
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Mabo, Bonita, contributor
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Mabo, Edward Kioki, contributor
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Mabo, Gail, contributor
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Mabo, Mahalingham, contributor
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Passi, Deb, contributor
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Salee, Meb, contributor
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Scott, Evelyn, contributor
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Whaleboat, Donald, contributor
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