...Koiki was fighting for his pride...

'Koiki was fighting for his pride, who he really was and at the same time, the feeling of oppression was very strong, which made him and myself really aggressive. I became aggressive, even if I was a priest, I became so aggressive. We were concerned about our culture and our culture meant so much to us. It was built in us. We were threatened by the idea of Crown land and so we decided to fight because I felt that we were going to lose our land if we were not careful, if we didn't fight for our land and that's why I became a plaintiff. But I saw Koiki as the one who was leading it.'

Keywords: Mabo Case, Mabo, Edward Koiki, Mabo v Queensland No.1, Mabo v Queensland No.2, Passi, Reverend Dave

Interviewed by Trevor Graham, Mer Island, 1996.
Author: Graham, Trevor
© Film Australia
Source: Passi, Rev Dave