The concept of native title is still relatively new in
Australia. The most well-known case establishing native title is
the High Court's Mabo decision of 1992. In response to
the High Court's decision in Mabo, the federal
government implemented the Native Title Act 1993
(NTA) to deal with other cases involving native
title claims. Yet despite the NTA having been legislation for
almost 20 years (it came into effect in January 1994), native title
remains an unfamiliar concept to many people.
In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Meriam people of the Murray
Islands in the Torres Strait commenced action in the High Court of
Australia claiming traditional land rights over land they lived
upon. They claimed that Murray Island, the surrounding islands and
the reefs had been continuously inhabited since British sovereignty
and had been continually in possession by the Meriam people.
