Australia was declared terra nullius in 1770 by the United Kingdom. Terra nullius is a legal term that is Latin for land belonging to nobody. The United Kingdom assumed that the Indigenous peoples of Australia did not have a way to prove ownership of the land or the authority to sign treaties. The British took control of Australia without payment or a treaty, denying Indigenous ownership.
Several lawsuits began challenging the declaration of terra nullius in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people began their challenge on May 20, 1982. They brought their case over the ownership and sovereignty of Mer Island against Queensland, Australia. Mabo claimed that the Meriam people were the legal ancestral owners of the island. The case challenged Australian legal tradition. It specifically denied the once common belief that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had no concept of land ownership before colonization. It also disputed that British sovereignty abolished any prior existing rights to land.
The Mabo case began in the Supreme Court of Queensland and then went on to the High Court of Australia. The High Court ruled in favor of the group of Torres Strait Islander people on June 3, 1992. The Mabo Decision established that the Meriam and Torres Strait Islander people had a cultural relationship to the land with clearly defined customs and territories.
The Mabo Decision officially recognized the Indigenous people as the first people of Australia. As a result of the Mabo Decision, Australia passed the Native Title Act 1993. The act established as law that some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to their ancestral land and waters, deriving from traditional laws and customs.
