...Malo's Law as evidence...
In 1987, Greg McIntyre was interviewed by Susan Varga from the Aboriginal Law Bulletin regarding the evidence being put to the Queensland Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs' claims to the Islands. Part of that evidence related to Malo's law:
Varga: A lot of research has been undertaken by Nonie Sharp and Flo Kennedy amongst others, on Malo's law of the Murray Islands, which is concerned with the law of cultivation and land ownership. Are you intending to use that research on
Malo's law as evidence?
McIntyre: Yes we will. Nonie Sharp is one of the witnesses that we've told the court we will be calling to give evidence and to relate that the introduction of Christianity was the continuation of Malo's law - and Malo's law says a lot in relation to land law. It's the basis of the traditional law of trespass, which we say is integral to the system [of land tenure] we're presenting to the court. So we've already heard quite a lot of evidence, in fact, about Malo's law and its Tag mauki mauki, Teter mauki mauki , literally foot not walking, hand not moving, which is interpreted as trespassing on other people's land. So it's very integral to our case.
Varga: A lot of research has been undertaken by Nonie Sharp and Flo Kennedy amongst others, on Malo's law of the Murray Islands, which is concerned with the law of cultivation and land ownership. Are you intending to use that research on
Malo's law as evidence?
McIntyre: Yes we will. Nonie Sharp is one of the witnesses that we've told the court we will be calling to give evidence and to relate that the introduction of Christianity was the continuation of Malo's law - and Malo's law says a lot in relation to land law. It's the basis of the traditional law of trespass, which we say is integral to the system [of land tenure] we're presenting to the court. So we've already heard quite a lot of evidence, in fact, about Malo's law and its Tag mauki mauki, Teter mauki mauki , literally foot not walking, hand not moving, which is interpreted as trespassing on other people's land. So it's very integral to our case.
Keywords: evidence, Kennedy, Flo, land ownership, Malo's laws, Malo's laws, McIntyre, Greg, Meriam culture, Meriam culture, oral evidence, plaintiffs, Sharp, Dr. Nonie, Supreme Court of Queensland, tag mauki mauki
Author: Kenna, Jonathan
Source: Aboriginal Law Bulletin, 1987, p 8-10.
Source: Aboriginal Law Bulletin, 1987, p 8-10.