Landmark Cases

Mabo v Queensland (No 2)

Citation Formats

General Reference

Law Atlas. "Mabo v Queensland (No 2)." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-law.interactiveatlas.org/landmark-cases/mabo-v-queensland.

APA Style

Law Atlas. (n.d.). Mabo v Queensland (No 2). Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-law.interactiveatlas.org/landmark-cases/mabo-v-queensland

BibTeX

@misc{lawatlas-mabo-v-queensland-no-2,
  author = {Law Atlas},
  title = {Mabo v Queensland (No 2)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-law.interactiveatlas.org/landmark-cases/mabo-v-queensland},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Mabo v Queensland (No 2) is a 1992 decision of the High Court of Australia that recognized native title, the traditional land rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, for the first time under Australian law. It was brought by Eddie Mabo and other Meriam people of the Torres Strait against the State of Queensland. The decision overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius, land belonging to no one, which had previously been applied to treat Australia as having had no system of law or land ownership prior to British settlement, and it led directly to the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).

Facts

Decision Year

1992 1

Holding

Held that native title to land, under the traditional laws and customs of Indigenous Australians, survived the British acquisition of sovereignty and is recognized by the Australian common law, rejecting the doctrine of terra nullius as it had previously been applied to deny any pre-existing system of law or land ownership. Decided by the High Court of Australia. 1

Current Status

In force; led to the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), which established a statutory framework for recognizing and protecting native title claims. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections