Mabo lawyer delivers Mabo lecture

The annual Mabo Lecture to be held tomorrow (June 18) at James Cook University in Townsville will be delivered by one of the barristers involved in the historic case.

The title of this year’s lecture is Mabo and Others: Products or Agents of Progress and the speaker is Dr Bryan Keon-Cohen, QC, whose book A Mabo Memoir: Islan Kustom to Native Title, has been revised and recently republished.

Dr Keon-Cohen will consider the Mabo litigation in its personal, institutional, and legal contexts, asking the question: to what extent were Eddie Mabo and his fellow-plaintiffs mere products, or essential agents, of change?

He will seek to isolate the role of individuals in the history changing case especially the plaintiffs and their supporters; as well as the institutions involved such as the High Court led by Sir Anthony Mason and the Bjelke-Petersen Queensland Government during the 1980s.

He will also discuss the prevailing legal doctrine, especially the denial of Indigenous traditional rights to country; and the writing, and re-writing, of history.

Issued: June 17, 2013

Media enquiries: Caroline Kaurila (07) 4781 4586 or 0437 028 175