Miriam People (Murray Islanders) --- "Way Up North: Land Case - Murray Island" [1986] AboriginalLawB 3; (1986) 1(18) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 3

• Way Up North Land Case – Murray Island

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Way Up North
Land Case – Murray Island

We people of Murray Island meeting at Mer, Torres Strait, on Monday 27/1/86 wish to make a press statement in support of the Murray Island land claim (Eddie Mabo versus the State of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia), for the recognition of our rights and the indigenous law.

We think that our Australian citizenship has been ignored. We therefore demand that the Australian Government give serious attention to this issue. We are claiming the lands which we have farmed continuously from times long before written history and which were handed down to us by our ancestors.

Our beliefs set out in our myths tell how Atwir of Moa Island swam to Murray Island or Mer in the form of a dugong.. We also have a myth of Tagai on Dever Island whose left hand Europeans call the Southern Cross and on Waier there is a shrine of Waiet, god of fertility. We believe that before Captain Cook was born several commandments were being implemented by the people of Murray Island. These were given out by the Malo-Bomai, the god they used to worship. One of the commandments is Tag mauki mauki, Teter mauki mauki, which means that no one is allowed to trespass on another man's property and steal another man's land. These commandments were and still are vital for the Islanders which commanded us to keep the land bountiful and maintain proper social order.

If these indigenous laws are not recognised by the Australian Government then it is hypocritical for the law of Western civilisation to forbid robbery, burglary and other infamous crimes. We ask that the Court meet here at Murray Island so that the judges who decide our land case may see our culture and land boundaries for themselves and also meet Murray Islanders face to face. We ask for the support of all Islander and Aboriginal communities, other Australians and people overseas. We ask especially for your moral and financial support for our claim.

This statement was unanimously agreed to by all Murray Islanders present this day January 27, 1986.

We Murray Islanders of the Torres Strait, known as the Miriam people, meeting at St Stephen's parish hall, Townsville, on February 9, 1986, request that whichever Court hears the case for our ownership of lands (Eddie Kiki Mabo versus State of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia) meets at Murray Island.

All our boundary-markers can be seen at Murray Island just as they were put there by our ancestors. These markers, which we Miriam people call deip, are raised mounds of earth which were already there when white people came to Murray Island. Our grandfathers and grandmothers have told us that these deip were made long ago by their ancestors who placed branches, rotting wood, dry coconut husks, shells, and vegetable debris together on the boundary-lines (nener) which over time turned into moulded earth (deip).

Everybody in the Island respects the boundaries and boundary-markers and each Murray Islander knows where his or her land is. All the people of Murray would be pleased to show the judges these boundaries and their markers. We are happy to give evidence in any Court; however, the presence of the Court at Murray Island would be best financially as well as providing the judges, barristers and solicitors with the opportunity to see our lands at first-hand.

This resolution was unanimously agreed to by all those present.

For further information contact Eddie Mabo
23 Hibiscus Street,
Cranbrook QLD 4814
phone [phone].