Editing Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (section)

==Background==
{{See Also|Indigenous land rights in Australia#History}}
===History of Mer===
The case centred on the Murray Islands Group, consisting of [[Murray Island, Queensland|Murray Island]] (known traditionally as Mer Island), [[Waua Islet, Queensland|Waua Islet]] and [[Dowar Islet, Queensland|Daua Island]]. The islands have been inhabited by the [[Meriam people]] (a group of [[Torres Strait Islanders]]) for between 300 and 2,000 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bird |first1=Rebecca Bligege |last2=Bird |first2=Douglas W |title=Children and traditional subsistence on Mer (Murray Island), Torres Strait |journal=Australian Aboriginal Studies |date=1 January 1995 |issue=1 |page=3 |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.152606590619534 |access-date=11 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=11 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221211074732/https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.152606590619534 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Prior to and after annexation by the British, rights to land on Mer is governed by Malo's Law, "a set of religiously sanctioned laws which Merriam people feel bound to observe".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharp |first1=Nonnie |title=No Ordinary Judgment |date=1996 |publisher=Aboriginal Studies Press |isbn=0-85575-287-4 |page=7}}</ref> Under this law, the entirety of Mer is owned by different Meriam land owners and there is no concept of public ownership.{{sfn|Sharp|1996|p=6}} Land is owned by the eldest son on behalf of a particular lineage or family so that land is jointly owned individually and communally.{{sfn|Sharp|1996|pp=6-7}}  Unlike western law, title to land is orally based, although there is also a written tradition introduced to comply with State and Commonwealth inheritance and welfare laws.{{sfn|Sharp|1996|pp=6-7, 103-114}} However, ownership is not 'one way' under this system of law, and an individual both owns the land and is owned by it. As such, they have the responsibility to care for and share it with their clan or family and maintain it for future generations.{{sfn|Sharp|1996|pp=9, 78-89}} 

In 1871, missionaries from the [[London Missionary Society]] arrived on the Torres Strait island of Darnley Island in an event known as "The coming of the Light" leading to the conversion to [[Christianity]] of much of the Torres Strait, including Mer Island.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Peter H |title=Recognizing Aboriginal Title: The Mabo Case and Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism |date=2005 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9780802094438 |page=23}}</ref> This however did not lead to a replacement of traditional native traditions, but a synthesis with traditional customs, including Malo's Law, being recognised within the framework of Christianity. Reverend David Passi, who gave evidence in the trial, explained that he believed that God had sent Malo to Mer Island and that "Jesus Christ was where Malo was pointing."{{sfn|Sharp|1996|pp=91-92}}

In 1879, the islands were formally annexed by the State of Queensland.<ref>{{cite web |title=Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879 |url=https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-1879-001 |website=Qld Legislation |publisher=Queensland Government |access-date=11 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221211094942/https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-1879-001|archive-date=11 December 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the 1900s, the traditional economic life of the Torres Strait gave way to wage labouring on fishing boats mostly owned by others. In the aftermath of the [[Great Depression]] and a subsequent cut in wages, [[Torres Strait Islanders|Islanders]] in 1936 joined a strike instigated by Mer Islanders. This strike was the first organised Islander challenge to western authorities since colonisation.{{sfn|Russell|2005|pp=21-22}}

===Legal Background===
Prior to ''Mabo'', the pre-colonial property interests of Indigenous Australians were not recognised by the Australian legal system.                                           Litigation over this issue directly did not arise until the 1970s with the case of ''[[Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd]]''.{{sfn|Bartlett|2020|p=11}} In that case, native title was held to not exist and to never have existed in Australia.

Later, in 1982, the [[plaintiffs]], headed by [[Eddie Mabo]], requested a declaration from the High Court that the Meriam people were entitled to property rights on [[Murray Island, Queensland|Murray Island]] according to their local customs, original native ownership and their actual use and possession of the land.{{sfn|Bartlett|2020|p=18}} The State of Queensland was the respondent to the proceeding and argued that native title rights had never existed in Australia and even if it did they had been removed due to (at the latest) the passage of the ''Land Act 1910'' (Qld).{{sfn|Bartlett|2020|p=18}}

Prior to judgment, the [[Queensland Government|Queensland government]] passed the ''Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985'' (Qld), which purported to extinguish the native title on the Murray Islands that Mabo and the other plaintiffs were seeking to claim. This was successfully challenged in [[Mabo v Queensland (No 1)|''Mabo v Queensland'' (1988) 166 CLR 186]] (Mabo No 1) and declared as ineffective due to the act being inconsistent with the right to equality before the law, as established by the [[Racial Discrimination Act 1975|''Racial Discrimination Act 1975'' (Cth)]].{{sfn|Bartlett|2020|p=19}}