In 1957, at the age of 21, Mabo moved to Townsville, Queensland and held a variety of jobs including cutting cane. Shortly after his arrival to Townsville, Mabo married Bonita Neehow, a South Sea Islander, and they had ten children (National Museum Australia, n.d.). Around this time, most Indigenous people in Australia had lost their land and lived in poverty on the outer edges of non-Indigenous society. Furthermore, state laws controlled where Indigenous people could live and whom they could marry and many were denied legal guardianship of their own children (Education Services Australia, n.d.). 

The 1960’s, however, was a significant period of change in Australian history. With the abolishment of the white Australia policy in 1965, allowing for increases in non-european migration and in 1969, the Arbitration Commission granted women equal pay for equal work for some work forces including teaching and nursing. Moreover, In regards to Indigenous Australians, in 1962 the Commonwealth Electoral ACT was amended to allow Indigenous Australians the right to vote. In 1967, Mabo was an active campaigner for a referendum in which, nearly 91 per cent of Australians voted in favour of allowing the Commonwealth government to make laws for Aboriginal people.

However, during the late 60’s McGregor (2011), describes how a growing number of Aboriginal people, were coming to see themselves less as an excluded group seeking inclusion and more as colonised people seeking liberation and in 1968, Gilbert, (as cited in McGregor, 2011), emphasised that the current gestures made by the government were not enough and that land rights would be the only way to meet the psychological and emotional needs of true justice within the Indigenous community as land rights were bonded to Aboriginal culture, identity and dignity. As the 1960s came to a close, land rights assumed ever greater prominence on the Aboriginal agenda.

In 1972, Mabo had planned a trip to his homeland of Mer, so that his children could meet their grandfather. In those days the Queensland authorities had to grant permission for people to travel to Mer. Mabo and his family were denied permission and Mabo’s father died from tuberculosis six weeks later. The children never got to meet their grandfather. Mabo never forgave the government for this injustice (AITSIS, 2017).

Two years later, while working as as a gardener at James Cook University, Mabo engaged in discussion with historian lectures and expressed to them his beliefs that he and his people were the true owners of the land from his home town of Mer. Historians Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, explained to Mabo that he did not own the land as it was owned by the Crown. Loos and Reynolds made reference to the fact that British invaders believed that Indigenous people did not own the land because they did not cultivate it, and that there was no system of land ownership in place when they arrived in 1788. The British believed they were able to take ownership of the land based on the notion of Terra Nullius (land belonging to know one). Mabo disagreed with this position and coupled with the injustice of being denied access to return home to see his dying father, Mabo began a crusade against the Australian government to argue that his home, Mer island, had always belonged to his people and still did. 

In 1981, Mabo gave his first speech on land rights at James Cook University, explaining the traditional land ownership and inheritance system that his community followed on Mer Island. A lawyer in the audience was moved by Mabo’s speech and agreed to help him with the case. 

In May 1982, Mabo and four fellow Mer Islanders, began their legal claim for ownership of their land with the High Court of Australia. With Mabo as the first named plaintiff, the case famously became known as the ‘Mabo Case’. 

Ten years later, on 3 June 1992, in a landmark decision, Eddie Mabo won the case when the High Court of Australia rejected the concept of terra nullius, and the people of Mer were confirmed as the custodians of their land. The importance of the High Court's decision was that Aboriginal people in other parts of Australia could now claim ownership of the land with which they had maintained continuous contact, although this only included crown land. The judgments of the High Court enacted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law. The new doctrine of native title replaced a 17th century doctrine of terra nullius. Mabo’s ten year fight for land rights paved the way for Indigenous Australians to have their culture, identity and  dignity restored.

As stated by McGregor (2011), it did not matter if the government changed the law to recognise Indigenous Australians as citizens or allow them to vote, Indigenous Australians wanted their land back, and this was made possible by the decade long fight that Mabo set upon, improving the lives of countless Indigenous people, opening the doors that set in motion the return of what was rightfully theres. Their Country, their land. 

Unfortunately, Eddie Mabo did not live to see the fruits of his life-time commitment and passion. He passed away at the aged 56 on 21 January 1992 (AIATSIS, n.d.). 

At the time of Kathy’s involvement in the Australian Communist Party Australian Colonialism had well and truly begun to dissolve traditional Aboriginal practice and through Australian laws in particular, Aboriginal cultural expression and rights equal to that of new settlers had become unequal. (Rose, 2015) The Australian Communist Party sought to stop the oppression. Kathy was significantly involved in interventions undertaken by the Australian Communist Party as she partook in the establishment of the (FCAA), and fought alongside the Australian Communist Party in an attempt to fight for equal wages and working conditions for all Aboriginal Australians and the removal of societal discrimination. (Boughton, 1999)

As a result of Kathy’s contributions within the Australian Communist Party Aboriginals were granted the right to vote in 1951, and the post-war land rights movement began to gain momentum to compliment the Indigenous Rights movement. Due to the efforts of the Australian Communist Party and Kathy Walker’s determination and drive the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders was formally established on the 13th of February 1958. (Boughton, 1999)

Kathy’s role as the Queensland State Secretary and her contributions within a social context. 

To become a State Secretary in the early 1960’s as an indigenous Australian and a woman was quite an achievement that required the kind of passion and resilience against societal discrimination that was very apparent in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s. As part of Kathy’s role as Secretary of the State Kathy was a significant figure in the push on the colonised peoples to see reform within the law that saw positive changes for indigenous peoples. This political push led to the 1967 Referendum, which was one of the first significant steps in bringing equality and social and legal justice to Australian Aboriginals. The outcome of the Referendum was the amendment of the constitution to finally acknowledge Australian Aboriginal rights, including them in the census. This was a small step but one that acted as a catalyst for the Australian Government to begin additional reforms within the political realm. (The Art of Healing, 2017)

“The victory of the 1967 referendum was not a change of white attitudes. The real victory was the spirit of hope and optimism which affected blacks all over Australia. We had won something… We were visible, hopeful and vocal.” (Kath Walker, 1967 Referendum Campaign National Coordinator)

Both were fighting against a political regime

Both were victims of injustice due to laws enforced post-colonisation; Kathy’s family being a victim of ‘the lost generation,’ and Eddie’s family being affected by restricted access to their land.

Although they shared different histories and identified with different indigenous groups both fought for the human rights of all indigenous communities and the preservation of indigenous cultures. 

the catalyst for Kathy and Eddie differed: Kathy understanding her mum’s history, and Eddie understanding the generational gap due to being removed from his family and communities’ land.

Mabo had a more focused drive to fight for land rights

Kathy was an advocate for a variety of cultural, legal and social injustices.