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Australia and its PeopleHistory

What was the Mabo decision of 1992?

  1. A High Court decision that recognised native title rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over their traditional lands
  2. A court decision banning racial discrimination in employment
  3. A government decision to apologise to the Stolen Generations

Why this is the correct answer

Eddie Mabo and other Torres Strait Islanders took their case to Australia's High Court, which ruled in 1992 that the legal fiction of terra nullius, the idea that Australia was empty land when Europeans arrived, was wrong. Native title was formally recognised, overturning two centuries of legal doctrine.

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