As Australia marks Mabo Day, Eddie Mabo's family have delivered powerful reflections on his legacy. Speaking at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Summit on the Gold Coast, Gail and Kaleb Mabo are urging Australians to continue the fight for truth, justice and recognition.
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TRANSCRIPT
As Australia marks Mabo Day, Eddie Mabo's family have delivered powerful reflections on his legacy.
Speaking at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Summit on the Gold Coast, Gail and Kaleb Mabo are urging Australians to continue the fight for truth, justice and recognition.
At the AIATSIS Summit in Queensland, the man who changed Australia has been honoured through music and dance, and a celebration of culture.
On Mabo Day, thousands have joined Eddie Mabo's family at the Gold Coast Convention centre to celebrate his life and legacy.
Speaking at the summit, Eddie Mabo's daughter, Gail has paid tribute to her father's commitment and strength.
"That was my Dad who did that deadly thing. It took him 15 years bit he did it. He was someone who was hungry for knowledge. He worked at James Cook University. During his lunch times he went to the library and found every book they had on the Torres Straits, or anything on the history of the Torres Straits."
Eddie Mabo's grandson, Kaleb, has told NITV it's an important day of reflection.
"It's a day where I remember what both my grandparents were fighting for. And the journey they went through, or struggle, in stepping into power, then changing the fabric of the nation."
Mabo Day commemorates the landmark 1992 High Court decision that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius and recognised the native title rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The High Court ruling recognised Indigenous Australians' traditional connection to land and paved the way for Native Title rights.
Speaking with NITV, Barrister Josh Creamer explains the significance of the decision.
"Before Eddie Mabo, we were considered in law barbarians and savages, who couldn't have rights and interests in land. And that's what the judgment talks about. The Mabo judgement. His actions overcame that, for 100, nearly 200 years we lived in that existence. He was able to identify a precedent saying that we are people we have rights and interests and we need to be recognised."
Eddie Mabo's passion for his people lives on through his family.
Kaleb has told NITV education is at the heart of his own push for change.
"For Indigenous people, this is the foundation of our culture. The inter-generational knowledge sharing and keepers of stories, so for myself there's a huge push, just like my grandfather on education in terms of both cultural and a western education."
He says he also wants to see his grandfather recognised with a national public holiday.
"To bring a light to it, and shine a light on the significance of the day. Because it changed the fabric of the nation so why wouldn't you want to acknowledge that."
It's been more than three decades since the landmark Mabo decision and it continues to be recognised across Australia.
But Gail Mabo says the fight he started isn't over.
"We as Indigenous people know unfinished business needs to come to a head and speaking the truth it will happen."
Mr Creamer says Australia still has a long way to go when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's rights.
"You want to be able to go to the court and say, our rights are being infringed. Or our rights should be X, Y, Z. In Australia we have very little in the way of rights. We've got recognition of native title, land rights, then probably to be free from racial discrimination, that's all we've got as First Peoples. And like other First Peoples around the world, we deserve much more."
