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Australian National University Vice-President (First Nations) Professor Peter Yu presented James Cook University’s 2025 Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture 'Advancing the Australian Nation Relationship with Indigenous Peoples - A way Forward'.

 

Eddie Koiki Mabo had a strong and long-lasting connection with James Cook University. It was here that he began his journey to challenge land ownership laws on Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait. The University provided the environment and context in which discussions challenging terra nullius could be had, including staff and student involvement in the coordination of the original 'Land Rights and the Future of Race Relations' conference that sparked the legal action filed in the High Court of Australia the following year.

 

The recognition of native title by the High Court of Australia in 1992, and the Keating Government’s subsequent Native Title Act 1993, were important steps forward in our country’s reconciliation with Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

 

"In contemplating our relationship as First Peoples with the settler state, it is clear to me that achieving more equitable arrangements, and advancing our rights and interests, depend on two key things," Professor Yu said. 

 

"The first is reshaping our economic relationship with governments and the wider economy through organised advocacy, public policy and institutional reform, so as to provide a basis for our long-term resilience and prosperity.  The second is prosecuting further legal challenges in the courts.  I will speak to the first point later in this address. But first, given the historical significance of this place, and of the struggles for native title fought in Queensland, I want to touch on the importance of strategic action in the courts."

 

Professor Yu said strategic litigation has so far been the only way for Australian First Nations peoples to secure legal recognition of their land and sea rights. Therefore it must continue.