Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great honour to stand in this chamber today to speak about Dr Bonita Mabo. Just days ago Dr Mabo was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from James Cook University in Townsville for her lifelong contribution to social justice and human rights. If the photographs of that graduation are anything to go by, Dr Mabo totally owned that graduation day. Her grace and presence commanded respect. That is indicative of the extraordinary contribution that she has made to our nation. Only days after that terrific celebration honouring Dr Mabo, we are here in this House paying tribute to her and giving thanks for her life, as she, sadly, died aged 75, surrounded by her family, in Townsville the day before yesterday.

Dr Mabo was a proud Malanbarra woman and a descendant of the Vanuatuan workers who were brought to Queensland to work on the sugar plantations. Her history was steeped in some of that shocking history that is part of our national story, which we will need to face squarely, and that was the horrific chapter of blackbirding, where people were taken—and usually against their will—from the South Sea Island nations to come and work in the sugar industry in Queensland.

Dr Mabo also co-founded Australia's first Indigenous community school. Her passion for education knew no boundaries, so she helped found the Black Community School in Townsville, which had a terrific history over many decades. Sadly, it no longer exists, and that is due to lack of funds and a whole range of reasons. She worked tirelessly as a teacher's aid in that school and oversaw all of the day-to-day operations, including insistence that there would be cultural training for all the students in that school. She is very aptly described as the mother of native title, and she is one of the greatest matriarchs of all time. Dr Mabo's passing is an enormous loss for our nation.

June Oscar, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, in learning of Dr Mabo's death, recently said:

Bonita Mabo was a woman of great strength. She was gentle, stoic and loving. I will always remember her as the mother of native title. Her legacy lives on in our continuing fight for land and sea rights.

It is indeed this lifelong commitment to social justice that sets Dr Mabo's work and that of her entire family in a very special place in our national story. It was her lifelong partnership with her husband, Eddie Mabo, that helped to quite radically reshape Australia's political, legal and cultural landscapes. Their fight to secure native title rights—and the High Court put paid to that legal fiction of 'terra nullius'—paved the way for the Native Title Act of 1993. That has had profound implications for our nation.

I was a very young anthropologist at the time of the Mabo decision. I knew very much through the work of Henry Reynolds of Mr Mabo, deceased, who never gave up. It is extraordinary that, against so many obstacles and odds, there was this incredible resilience and persistence that drew strength from knowing that you were right, that you had a very proud and honoured place as a First Nations people and that nothing was going to get in the way of getting some recognition of those rights. I was working at the time up in the Fitzroy Valley in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. WA was the only state in Australia to never have any form of land rights legislation, so the Mabo decision was a huge deal. It meant a lot to people in Western Australia—certainly to the Bunuba people who I was working with at the time, but also lots of people across the Kimberley region.

We know much of that history now, but Dr Mabo's role in enabling and helping that fight to happen is probably the lesser-known story in our nation. In recent years, Dr Mabo has certainly been fighting for South Sea Islanders to also be recognised in Australia as their own distinct ethnic group. In many ways, this remains some unfinished business for us in Australia.

I was very fortunate to be part of a parliamentary inquiry, through the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, back in 2015, where we were trying to pick up on an earlier report to this parliament around a call for recognition. That call for recognition came out of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's 1992 report. We learnt in that inquiry that, despite some of the formal recognition that had been given post-1992, the disadvantages that South Sea Islander groups were experiencing here in Australia in many ways mirrored that of First Nations communities. Perhaps there was no stronger advocate than Dr Mabo for the recognition of those South Sea Islander peoples, that lived experience and the need to access some specific services. It has always been a real struggle navigating across multiple jurisdictions and departments within the government as to how we deliver services to Australian South Sea Islanders.

I note that the government, back in 2015, did commit to progressing this. I wait, with great enthusiasm, I guess, to see what the government might bring before the parliament as a response to the fact that they are going to use the Senior Officials Settlement Outcomes Group, SOSOG, to try to progress some of the issues that we raised. They've committed to providing an update by the Minister for Families and Social Services to this parliament every three years, commencing in the middle of next year. I can think of no better way for this parliament to honour the lifelong work of Dr Mabo than to progress those issues that remain unfinished business for us in this nation, in relation to Australian South Sea Islanders.

I've just come from an Oxfam-hosted event here in Australia called Straight Talk, where a group of 70 remarkable First Nations women have gathered to come and learn how to play a much more active role in political processes here in Australia and the decision-making processes. There were also women from Vanuatu present. I was thinking of Dr Mabo as I sat listening to so many of these extraordinary women this morning. I'm looking forward to the meetings again tomorrow. I know just how proud Dr Mabo would be to see women from Meriam Mir nations there today, here in the centre of decision-making in this nation, and to see that there was such a strong presence of First Nations women and also Australian South Sea Islanders. I give my heartfelt condolences to her 10 children and a huge thanks to the Mabo family for sharing your mother and father with our nation.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the condolence motion on the death of Dr Mabo. Alan Duff, a Maori author, wrote a set of words, in a publication that I read, that said, 'Every society has its heroes. Those heroes are people who influence others around them, some more so in remarkable ways than others.' I think of the period which both Eddie and Dr Mabo grew up in and the history of Queensland at the time. The challenges of being recognised within the historical context of this nation was equally challenging. That was because often matters to do with the history of Indigenous Australians and those who were brought from the Pacific Islands to work within Australia was overlooked, both conveniently and in the sense of not wanting to acknowledge that history showed that the whole concept of terra nullius was not as acceptable as it had been for decades.

When you take a fight on an issue, the person who stands beside you gives you the courage and the energised motive to continue. All of us at times fight on issues. Certainly, in my 66 years of growing up in our country, I have gone through stages where I've fought on many issues. But what was important was that Dr Bonita Mabo was there at Eddie Mabo's side. There were times that he felt that the fight was too great, but, as she said, 'We're in this together.'

Her own journey in the work that she did as an educator influenced many children. People underestimate the power and strength of the matriarchs within our communities. Their approach to life, looking at the cultural context and how that sits within a broader society in which you are immersed, remains the strength of the teaching and the work that is done to impart knowledge and ensure continuity of a culture that is rich. She came from the South Sea Islands. I knew many who contributed to education in Queensland, and I had the privilege of working with them. I also had the privilege of meeting Bonita. There are times in life when you meet someone and, whilst the conversation may only be minuscule, in the full spectrum of your life, it nevertheless leaves an indelible mark in your thinking about some of the issues you too have to consider and confront and the way in which you go about it.

When she was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters, it was recognition of a vision and a passion that were important. I certainly join myself with the comments of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, because they went to the crux of the unique strength that Bonita Mabo had. Her vision, as shared with me by her children at times I've had the opportunity of talking with them, was a tower of strength. Her achievements, from a very humble background, and her own culture were the essence of the strength which she used to influence and make progress in making sure that the strength of our communities prevailed.

We've got to think about Australia at the time that Bonita Mabo was a young woman. When she and Eddie married, in 1959, Queensland and Australia were very strong in their policies on Indigenous peoples, on societies that were from other areas. The journey of trying to have recognition for her people has always been a struggle, because governments have not fully comprehended the importance of why the essence of somebody's culture is their being and is the strength that makes them the unique individual that they are.

When the High Court decision was handed down, she made the comment that it was a pity that Eddie didn't see the outcome of the challenge that he took to the Australian government of the day. She went on to say that her pride in what her husband had achieved was a great moment. I remember reading in a media article that she was driving when she heard the news, and she got out of the car and celebrated. She celebrated the fact that all of their hard work together had realised a significant change. When you think about what it meant, it took away the myths of the past, as she equally did in fighting for her people to be recognised. I do hope, like the member for Newcastle, that this House recognises their contribution in this nation, because industries grew off the back of First Nations people and Bonita's people. But she was always unwavering in what she believed in. When you meet somebody who is strong, you then take that strength and apply it equally, because you see somebody who has a vision, who has thoughts about what the future should look like, not only for her family but for the children.

Teacher's aides—and I acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education workers—are at the bottom of the order of structure within a school, yet their influence is immense in the way in which we have seen their influence shape the future of younger people. I see it in her children. When I heard of her passing, my thoughts and my heart went out to them, because I know how much of an influence she was on them and how much love they had for both their father and their mother. They knew that, as a family, they had changed the tide of the battles that we used to have on land rights, and the battles for recognition—that we didn't exist pre-Captain Cook.

That decision was monumental but it was equally supported by both. We are a sadder country for having lost both, because they are the iconic heroes whose selfless approach to making a better future resulted in one of the most significant changes that was monumental to this nation. When you lose somebody you lose a history book of knowledge—a book of love, a book of guidance—but you also lose a spiritual connection that, often, all of us have around us in the way in which we influence people.

In conclusion, I would like to say thank you, Eddie and Bonita, for what you've done. Thank you for the work that you did that influenced so many others. You've influenced all Australians in a way that neither of you would have imagined. To your children: remember those things that are important but remember you have two heroes who have left us.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Young Australians and Youth Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to add my condolences to the family, friends and supporters of Dr Bonita Mabo AO—Norni to her family—someone who cast a very long shadow as an outstanding activist for land rights, for native title and for recognition for South Sea Islanders. Deputy Speaker McVeigh, as you know, Dr Mabo was born near Ingham in North Queensland, a Malanbarra woman and also a descendant of Vanuatuan workers, those workers who were previously known as Kanaks or Kanakas, who were forcibly required to come to North Queensland to work on the sugar plantations. One of the great shames of Australian history is what has happened to those workers who were brought to North Queensland to work on the sugar plantations. Of course, it is something that the nation even today hasn't fully come to terms with.

It is hard to really do justice to the influence that Bonita Mabo has had on our nation and on our identity—our thoughts about who we are as Australians. The Mabo decision in which she had supported her husband was so important to our nation. When we listened to what the High Court had to say about what sort of country we had been before what was then usually described as 'settlement', the fiction of terra nullius, the fiction that it had just been a vast, empty continent awaiting English settlers was overturned—and it was overturned in a public way and in a legal way—there was an admission, an Australian admission, that the land had been taken. And so, I think it was a challenge to everyone at the time to say, 'Let's think about who we really are as Australians and who we want to be in the future.'

That's another thing that we haven't really come to grips with as a nation. We will head into Australia Day in a couple of months and there'll be the usual arguments and counterarguments about the significance of the particular date. At its heart, that's an argument about who we are as a people and what we believe ourselves to be. And I think, I hope, most Australians want to see unity. They want to see a modern Australia, an Australia that acknowledges the past, that in the spirit of the rejection of the idea of terra nullius respects First Nations people and that also welcomes not just those of us whose family might have come six or seven generations ago but those whose family might have come one or two generations ago and those who are turning to Australia now.

Australia has grown up a lot since the work that Eddie and Bonita Mabo did, and there is a lot more growing up that we have to do together. But today is a day for condolence to her family. I think that condolence, necessarily, must include gratitude. It is the gratitude that the former speaker expressed to the Mabo family for the work that they did to stand up for land rights and to stand up for native title. It is gratitude to them for being activists at a time when it was not easy to be an activist, and it was particularly not easy to be an activist from an Aboriginal background or from a South Sea Islander background, and I suspect it was particularly not easy to be a female activist from that background.

Bonita Mabo did some incredible things in her life, growing up in Far North Queensland, having 10 children and then deciding that, because of the state of education for Aboriginal kids, the only thing she could really do was to establish an Aboriginal school herself. It is such a brave thing to do to actually establish Australia's first Aboriginal community school, because she could see a better future for her kids and for their kids. Of course, her husband was involved in that, just as she was involved in her husband's land rights work. What a partnership! Then later in life, after being widowed, after the loss of Eddie Koiki Mabo, she took on as her cause the recognition of South Sea Islanders as a distinct ethnic group, as a group of people deserving recognition, deserving respect and deserving support. It is quite breathtaking the work that she did.

I think we are lucky—all of us—to have had such a hero growing up in our midst and taking on the issues that made a practical difference to the lives of people that she knew and people that she would never know. She has left an amazing legacy in relation to the advocacy that she undertook. She was recognised for that legacy in 2013, when she was named as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the Indigenous community and to human rights as an advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander peoples.

As you also know, days before she died, James Cook University conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Letters upon her for her contribution to social justice and human rights. I went to James Cook University. I was a student there in the nineties. As a young student, there was respect for the Mabo family. The entire university was very respectful—reverent—towards the Mabo family for the work that they had been doing and for the work that had changed the country. I was very pleased that they named the library after Eddie Koiki Mabo and am equally pleased that they conferred a doctorate of letters on Dr Mabo during her lifetime. I congratulate the university on the work that they've done to recognise the contribution that the Mabo family has made to this nation.

I also wanted to express, as I said, my condolences to the entire family but I particularly wanted to give my condolences to Neta-Rie Mabo, who I know. She works in my electorate at Sisters Inside, a really wonderful organisation. I know that she'll be particularly feeling the loss of Bonita at the moment. I wanted to say to Neta-Rie, to all her friends at Sisters Inside and to her own beautiful little bubba, who I got to see at NAIDOC Week: the parliament of Australia is grieving with you, and all of us offer our sincere condolences to you for your loss. In conclusion, I wanted to say thank you to Dr Mabo. May she rest in peace.

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this place today with a deep sadness in my heart as I take this opportunity to speak about an incredibly remarkable woman. I pay my respects to the Manbarra people of Palm Island, because Dr Mabo AO was a Manbarra woman, a traditional owner, from Palm Island. Dr Mabo was also a South Sea Islander and a reconciliation activist. She was the widow of Torres Strait Islander land claimant Eddie Koiki Mabo. Dr Mabo was born in Halifax, Queensland, which is roughly just over an hour's drive from my electorate of Herbert. She was the descendant of Vanuatuan workers, formerly known as Kanakas, who were taken—or, more accurately, blackbirded—from their home to Queensland, some 2,000 kilometres west of their homeland, to work in absolutely substandard conditions on sugar plantations between 1816 and 1904. This practice, as I said, is known as blackbirding. These workers were in fact treated like slaves, and the cane industry in the north flourished on their blood, sweat and tears.

Dr Mabo married Eddie Koiki in Ingham in 1959, and they were to become the parents of 10 children. In 1972, disenchanted with the education that her children were receiving, Dr Mabo set up Australia's first Aboriginal community school. Eddie Koiki Mabo was also involved, but he soon came to focus on his own campaign. Dr Mabo supported him through his historic land claim, which was fought out at their home in Garbutt in Townsville. Dr Mabo said: 'I was his wife, but that's as far as it went. I've got nothing to do with the land.' Following his death, she increasingly sought recognition for her own ancestors. She was an advocate for reconciliation for all Australians, especially between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and South Sea Islander people, speaking frequently of the need to work together as one to fight for our rights.

Dr Mabo and the rest of her family longed to see 3 June, the anniversary of the successful Mabo decision, declared a national holiday, with the focus of the day on reconciliation for all Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. On 17 November 2018, James Cook University conferred upon Mrs Mabo an honorary doctorate of letters in recognition of her outstanding contribution to social justice and human rights at a private ceremony that was held in Brisbane. This was just days before her passing.

On 31 May 2018, a star was named in her honour at the Sydney Observatory during the visit of the New South Wales judicial commission's Ngara Yura Program to the observatory. Her daughter, Gail Mabo, was present because Dr Mabo was very unwell. Another star, Koiki, had been named in memory of Eddie Koiki Mabo in 2015 on the 23rd anniversary of the Mabo decision, a very fitting tribute to two amazingly strong and resilient First Nations activists. Dr Mabo was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia on Australia Day 2013. She was an incredibly strong, resilient and dignified woman, who quietly conquered much adversity. Dr Mabo never showed fear. She was a woman who will be forever known as one of the greatest First Nation leaders of our time. Today I stand in this place to honour the memory of Dr Mabo and pay my respects to her 10 children and extended family. The people of Townsville have a very close connection with the Mabo family and we hold them with the greatest respect and honour. In my community Dr Mabo is known for her contribution to social justice and human rights and her activism on First Nations matters, and she also had the title of 'mother of land rights'. Dr Mabo was about 16 when she first met Eddie Koiki Mabo. Eddie said it was love at first sight. In 1959 the two married and they had 10 children.

Their strong commitment and belief in the power of education for their children and all First Nations children is well known. As I have already mentioned, they founded Australia's first Indigenous community school in Townsville. The school started with 10 students in an old Catholic school building in the heart of the city. There were only two teachers who assisted the children to connect to their cultural background, and Dr Mabo was a teacher aide at the school. It commenced with financial support from parents and some local trade unions. Eddie Koiki Mabo relied on his contacts at the Townsville Trades and Labour Council. The school also received initial support from the Australian Union of Students, the Australian Council of Churches and the Aboriginal Arts Board. It eventually received limited support from the Australian Schools Commission, a program of the Whitlam and Fraser governments, and the Queensland state education system. In 1976 the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs took responsibility for the overall funding; however, underfunding was always going to have an impact on the school's viability. At its peak in the late 1970s, 45 students were enrolled at the school. The Indigenous community school was able to sustain itself for 12 years and for its duration was a vital centre for the Torres Strait Islander community in Townsville. The school sadly closed in 1985 due to lack of funding and the inability to secure a lease on a permanent site.

Dr Mabo campaigned alongside her husband, Eddie Koiki Mabo, in the pursuit of land rights for Aboriginal people, as I have said. This land rights campaign started at JCU in my electorate as a result of a conversation between Eddie Koiki Mabo and two of the professors at JCU when they casually mentioned to Koiki in a conversation in the garden where he worked that the land that he thought was his was in fact not his land. Dr Mabo at that time worked at a prawn factory to support her family and her husband to earn the income to provide a home, feed, clothe and educate their 10 children. From there the campaign began at their home in Garbutt. Dr Mabo was there all through the journey, looking after the family and supporting her husband. I grew up not far from the Mabo home in Garbutt, a very working class suburb. I remember the buzz in the community, but I also remember that life was very tough in those days for our First Nations people. It must be remembered at this time that Townsville was one of only two cities in Queensland, and the country, that voted no in the 1967 referendum.

Tragically the historic High Court decision was announced just five months after Koiki Mabo's passing. This was a both joyous and incredibly sad day for his family. The historic Mabo decision led to the creation of the Native Title Act in 1993. Even though Dr Mabo had lost her dearly-loved husband she continued her activism. She was a genuinely gentle woman of incredible conviction and amazing strength. She was gentle, stoic and loving. Her legacy will live on not only in my community of Townsville but also across this great nation. I say thank you to Dr Mabo for your inspiration, your passion, your resilience, your strength and your endless dedication to the rights of First Nations peoples. You will be forever missed but never forgotten. Vale Dr Mabo.