Mabo was born in the Murray Islands, north of Australia. His mother died in childbirth, and according to tribal custom he was adopted by his paternal uncle and aunt.

As an adult he worked as a fisherman, cane cutter, railway laborer, gardener-groundsman, vocational officer and community arts liaison officer.

He established Australia's first Aboriginal-run community school, in Townsville, Queensland. But he will be remembered primarily for the landmark legal challenge he initiated, Mabo and others v State of Queensland. It lasted from 1982 to 1992 (four months after his death) and resulted in the overthrow of the 205-year-old legal doctrine of terra nullius. This doctrine had held that native Australians and Islanders had no legal land rights, and had been the basis for the wholesale expropriation of their land by white settlers.

In 1993 he was named Australian of the Year by The Australian newspaper.

References

Loos, Noel, and Mabo, Koiki. Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle For Land Rights. (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1996)
Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia, general editors John Arnold and Deirdre Morris. (Port Melbourne: Reed Reference Publishing, 1994)
Guilliatt, Richard. "The Man Who Changed Australia," The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 August 1997
National Library of Australia. "MS 8822: Papers of Edward Koiki Mabo (1936-1992)." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.nla.gov.au/1/ms/find_aids/8822.html
The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture, David Horton, general editor. (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 1994)

Indexes

Australian Aboriginal
Australia
20th Century
Civil Rights, Advocacy
Education, Teaching, Libraries
Law
Exile or Persecution (religious, Political or Social)
Birth or Infancy
Unmarried Mother, Single Parent (Mother or Father) Unable to Cope
Uncles and Aunts, Parents' Uncles and Aunts
Customary or Traditional Adoption, Informal and Extra-Legal Care
Parent(s) Died, Disappeared or Became Incapacitated
Always in Contact or Knew Identities