In October, two years after the donation of papers arising from one of Australia’s most historic legal cases – Mabo – Deakin Law School celebrated a milestone in preserving and making this collection accessible for researchers to explore.  

Gathered at the event were student volunteers, law school and library staff, and the donor of the papers (a barrister in the case itself), all celebrating their progress toward fully indexing the Mabo papers – a major task, but essential to making this landmark collection accessible to researchers. 

The Mabo case documents were donated by Dr. Bryan Keon-Cohen AM KC, as a Partial Copy Collection (“PCC”) of a larger, original collection held by the National Library of Australia. The PCC comprises 76 lever-arch files. To date, 35 of these files have been indexed – a painstaking effort on the part of the student volunteers.  

 

Junior Barrister in the Mabo case during 1982-92, Dr. Keon-Cohen played a key role, and his collection provides an invaluable record of the legal proceedings that recognised native title rights in Australian common law.  

Of his decision to donate the PCC to Deakin University, Dr. Keon-Cohen said: ‘Deakin University should assist its archives department to ensure that this very important part of Australian legal history is properly stored and accessible. By indexing the collection, it can be researched in an efficient and scholarly way.’ 

With this important indexing project, Deakin University is preserving and making accessible a vital resource for anyone wishing to understand the Mabo case’s profound impact. 

The Mabo Case 

The Mabo case was named after Eddie Koiki Mabo, one of five plaintiffs from the Meriam people, living on Murray Island in the Eastern Torres Strait.  The case commenced in 1982.  

The plaintiffs sought legal recognition of native title over their three islands and adjacent seas, challenging the colonizers’ doctrine of terra nullius—the idea that the Australian continent, and the Torres Strait, were uninhabited and therefore open for colonisation. 

After a trial of facts only in the Queensland Supreme Court, the case was ultimately decided by the High Court of Australia in 1992. The court ruled that the Meriam people continued to enjoy rights, under Australian common law, to Murray Island, based on their traditional customs and continuous habitation (rather than crown grants) and that colonization in 1879 did not extinguish those rights. This historic decision rejected the terra nullius doctrine as legally and factually inaccurate and laid the groundwork for the Commonwealth Native Title Act of 1993. These reforms provided a new basis for traditional owners across Australia to also claim traditional land rights, i.e., native title. Later, in 2001 and 2013, the Meriam people also secured traditional rights to neighbouring islands Dauer and Waier and the adjacent seas, thus (after 31 years), successfully completing their original claim of 1982. 

The Collection Contents 

The Mabo case archive was generated during the decade of the litigation and includes a vast range of documents vital for establishing Indigenous claims to land through customary use and occupation. According to Dr. Keon-Cohen, Queensland’s legal defence was exhaustive, leading to an extensive array of records that illustrate the complexities and challenges faced by the plaintiffs. These documents, many of which are not publicly available, include: 

• maps showing the claimed areas on the three islands and surrounding reefs and seas; 

• rare anthropological reports dating back to 1890s, alongside more recent studies 

• meeting notes, and correspondence with Eddie Koiki Mabo and other plaintiffs; 

• statements of evidence from the plaintiffs, Meriam witnesses, anthropologists, Queensland government officials, and others; 

• transcripts of court proceedings, including evidence heard on Murray Island 

• correspondence with key Commonwealth Government ministers including Gareth Evans and Clyde Holding 

• correspondence between the plaintiffs’ solicitor and Queensland’s legal team 

•  applications to secure federal legal aid to sustain the case 

• photos from Dr Keon-Cohen’s personal collection, to be digitised. 

• Historical records concerning Queensland’s administration and control of the Torres Strait since 1879 – especially of the Meriam people and Murray Island. 

This extensive collection offers an in-depth look at one of Australia’s most transformative legal battles and its wide-reaching impact on Indigenous rights. 

In 2001, the NLA’s originals of the PCC, Eddie Mabo’s personal papers, and Captain Cook’s journal from HMS Endeavour (1768 – 71) were inscribed in UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register, being described as “documents of unique and irreplaceable world significance.”  

The Volunteers and Their Work 

In late 2022, the first group of three Deakin law students began indexing the collection under Dr. Keon-Cohen’s guidance. Through visits, phone calls, and Zoom meetings, he has supported their

meticulous work, with additional insights and guidance from his PhD thesis, published as A Mabo Memoir: Islan Kustom to Native Title (2013). Recently, the team has grown to 14 members, with the original three students now mentoring the new volunteers. Despite balancing assignments and exams, this expanded team has made significant progress. 

A highlight of their work was a visit to the National Library of Australia, where they accessed the complete original Mabo archive. With generous assistance from NLA staff, they scanned an additional 1,000+ pages of important material – e.g., pleadings and submissions – missing from the PCC, further enriching Deakin’s archive. 

A home for the collection 

Support from the NLA, the Law School, Deakin Archive and the Library for this project has been exemplary – in particular, Law Deans and Professors Jenni Lightowlers and Marilyn McMahon, DLS Manager Linda Black, University Archivist Antony Catrice, and Senior Manager Indigenous Programs Tui Raven.  

Assistance, which continues, includes providing access and working spaces for the volunteers, protecting fragile records, and securing the collection in safe storage. 

Looking Forward 

 Going forward, consideration will be given to ensure cultural sensitivities are respected by researchers utilising and seeking to publish material from the collection’s records. To achieve this, a set of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) protocols will be developed, guided by NLA protocols to the original collection, and applied to the Deakin PCC. 

The indexing of the Mabo PCC will make it more accessible to researchers and the public, ensuring that future generations can study and understand the case that reshaped Australian land law. On

a personal level for Dr. Keon-Cohen, this brings his long involvement with these Mabo materials to a close. ‘The case – and associated paper-warfare – commenced in 1982 when I had just started practice at the Victorian bar,’ says Dr. Keon-Cohen. ‘Since 1992 I have acted for claimants in native title claims, lectured and published articles and my PhD thesis on this topic. Providing the original collection to the NLA and the PCC to Deakin is a fitting conclusion to that work and, I hope, a substantial and valuable basis for future research and analysis by others.’  

Through the dedication of volunteers and the generosity of Dr. Keon-Cohen, Deakin Law School is preserving a foundational story of justice, recognition, and the strength of Indigenous voices.