Mabo Oration finds Voice

The Mabo Oration was delivered to a sell-out crowd by co-author of the Uluru Statement Professor Megan Davis in Townsville last week.

Professor Davis acknowledged the late Eddie Koiki Mabo’s High Court victory as she explained the differences the Voice would bring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s lives.

She said if Australians voted for the Voice – constitutionally enshrined recognition – it would give advice on laws and policies that affected Indigenous people.

The Mabo Oration was about celebrating and paying tribute to Eddie Koiki Mabo and the landmark High Court decision which legally recognised Indigenous people had a special relationship to the land that existed prior to colonisation.

Prof Davis then joined a discussion panel with Professor Henry Reynolds, Gail Mabo and Jeff McMullen (Master of Ceremonies) after the speech.

Prof Reynolds said he thought the referendum would get through, but with a small majority, and said he was concerned political parties would use it to achieve political victory.

He also said the Mabo decision had raised Australia’s standing internationally because other countries watched how Australia dealt with Indigenous people.

The decision to move the Mabo Oration to a regional venue paid off, with 430 people attending the sold out event, many of them from other regions.

The event, hosted by the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) in partnership with Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), was held in Brisbane since 2005.

The most recent Mabo Oration was held in 2019.