...Fabrication, I don't know...
'The conclusions I came to about Eddie Mabo and the reasons for my coming to them are in the Determination with some degree of elaboration...
I found - or put it another way - my conclusion was that on the basis of the evidence that I had received in the determination proceedings, I was not prepared to find that Eddie Mabo had been adopted into the Mabo line. He'd been born a Sambo in terms of that terminology. I wasn't prepared to find on the evidence that he'd been adopted as a Mabo to the extent and with the consequence that he was entitled to inherit what was usually referred to in the proceedings as Mabo land. Now, the consequence of that was not for me to determine, because it had been reserved to the High Court, but it isn't a great leap of the imagination to say that his claims were based on saying there is a system which entitles me to this land because I am the heir to the Mabo lands. I am the heir to the Mabo lands because I was adopted as such. If you're not persuaded that he was adopted as such, well it's difficult to see where he goes from there.'
I found - or put it another way - my conclusion was that on the basis of the evidence that I had received in the determination proceedings, I was not prepared to find that Eddie Mabo had been adopted into the Mabo line. He'd been born a Sambo in terms of that terminology. I wasn't prepared to find on the evidence that he'd been adopted as a Mabo to the extent and with the consequence that he was entitled to inherit what was usually referred to in the proceedings as Mabo land. Now, the consequence of that was not for me to determine, because it had been reserved to the High Court, but it isn't a great leap of the imagination to say that his claims were based on saying there is a system which entitles me to this land because I am the heir to the Mabo lands. I am the heir to the Mabo lands because I was adopted as such. If you're not persuaded that he was adopted as such, well it's difficult to see where he goes from there.'
Keywords: Mabo, Edward Koiki, Moynihan, Justice Martin, Moynihan's findings, Supreme Court of Queensland, 1990
Interviewed by Trevor Graham, 1996.
Author: Justice Moynihan© Film Australia
Source: Moynihan, Justice
Author: Justice Moynihan© Film Australia
Source: Moynihan, Justice