My name is: Gail Mabo, daughter of Eddie Koiki Mabo.
My Position is: I am a mentor, mother, artist and actress and the family appointed spokesperson on behalf of my father, Eddie Koiki Mabo.
My Mob is: I am a Meriam woman from Murray Island in the Torres Straits and my mob is Peibre from Murray Island.
I Live in: Townsville, and grew up in Townsville, which is very dry, whereas Cairns is wet and tropical. In Townsville we grew up by the water always catching fresh fish and tending gardens, digging for sweet potatoes and yams – that was our staple diet growing up.
Brief History: I am the 17th generation of proud warriors who fought and settled on Murray Island and I’m proud of where I come from.
Lifestyle: My dad was a gardener at James Cook University and he planted traditional gardens there. We would go and harvest them and share with the extended family in Townsville. It feels like only yesterday that I lost my dad.
It’s time now to recognise the First Peoples of Australia. We are slowly doing that, but there is a wall and that wall has to start crumbling just like the Great Wall in Berlin. I say come on, let’s take that wall down.
Hopefully, that will be through Constitutional change, but people’s attitudes have to change. People need to acknowledge there was wrong doing when they first came, but let’s make it right as one people.
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