Native title does not exist
Native title exists (exclusive)
Native title exists (non-exclusive)
Native title extinguished
ILUA registered
ILUA in notification
ILUA notification ended
ILUA subject to objection (not withdrawn) and/or adverse material
Future Act notices current
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The Mer Gedkem Le (Torres Strait Islanders) Corporation, located on Mer Island, administers land on behalf of the Meriam people. The Meriam people’s ownership of Mer, Waier and Dauar Islands was recognised in two distinct native title determinations: the Mabo decision and the Meriam People determination.
The celebrated Mabo decision was the first recognition that the common law of Australia required the recognition of pre-existing rights and interests in land and waters according to the traditional laws and customs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people. Finally decided by the High Court of Australia in 1992, the struggle of the Meriam Islanders to have their native title recognised began much earlier when Eddie Mabo and others first began to claim their land.
The Mabo decision had a powerful impact upon Australian property law as it overturned the concept of terra nullius on which, Australia's whole land tenure system had been based. For the Meriam people, the Mabo decision recognised that they owned the island of Mer in the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait, under Ailan Lore and Kastom.
The Meriam People determination concerned two islands that had been early excluded from the Mabo decision because the factual arguments around these islands were harder to prove in court than the Mer Island claim.
In June 1998, Sam Wailu, James Rice, Andrew Passi, Fredwin Barsa, Terry Tapim, and George Kaddy claimed title to Waier and Dauar Islands in the National Native Title Tribunal on behalf of the Dauwereb people who are a subgroup of the Meriam people. This claim was successfully negotiated between the parties. All parties agreed to recognise the Meriam peoples’ right to possess, occupy, use and enjoy the land. This agreement was approved by Justice Black as a consent determination in June 2001.
In addition to the Mabo decision and the Meriam People determination, the Mer Gedkem Le (Torres Strait Islanders) Corporation also administers two Indigenous Land Use Agreements between Meriam Islanders and the Australian Custom Service and Ergon Energy, respectively.
| Type of RNTBC |
Agent
|
|---|---|
| Contact name |
Douglas Passi
|
| Contact number |
07 4069 4090
|
| Postal address |
Lot 1 Marou Street, MURRAY ISLAND QLD 4875
|
| Office address |
Lot 1 Marou Street, MURRAY ISLAND QLD 4875
|
| PBC size |
Medium
|
| Region |
TSI
|
| Date of incorporation |
|
| Date of registration |
|
| ICN (Indigenous Corporation Number) |
3282
|
Tributes are flowing for the “matriarch of reconciliation”, Bonita Mabo, an activist and reconciliation advocate in her own right who was the wife of the land rights champion Eddie “Koiki” Mabo. She has died in Townsville, surrounded by her family, at the age of 75.
The Aboriginal social justice commissioner, June Oscar, described Mabo as “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.”
Tributes flowed this week as Australia mourned the death of the mother of native title, Bonita Mabo. Dr Mabo, the wife of Eddie Mabo, worked tirelessly alongside her husband for land rights.
She passed away just days after being awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from James Cook University in Queensland recognising her contribution to social justice and human rights.
| Name | FC name | Tribunal number | Determined outcome | Area |
|---|