JCU Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture

Please join us to hear from Australian National University Vice-President (First Nations), Professor Peter Yu AM, as he presents JCU’s 2025 Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture Advancing the Australian Nation Relationship with Indigenous Peoples – A way Forward.

Eddie Koiki Mabo had a strong and long-lasting connection with James Cook University. It was here that he began his journey to challenge land ownership laws on Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait. The University provided the environment and context in which discussions challenging terra nullius could be had, including staff and student involvement in the coordination of the original 'Land Rights and the Future of Race Relations' conference that sparked the legal action filed in the High Court of Australia the following year.

The recognition of native title by the High Court of Australia in 1992, and the Keating Government's subsequent Native Title Act 1993, were important steps forward in our country's reconciliation with Australia's Indigenous peoples.

About Professor Yu

Peter is a Yawuru man from Broome in the Kimberley with extensive experience in Indigenous development and advocacy in the Kimberley, at the state, national and international level.

He has been instrumental in the development of many community-based organisations and initiatives that have had an enduring influence on the Kimberley region. He was Executive Director of the Kimberley Land Council during the 1990s and a member of the national leadership team negotiating the Federal Government's response to the 1992 Mabo High Court judgement on Native Title.

Peter has held various positions in the not-for-profit sector, as a Director on Water Trust Australia, Chair of the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), Chair of the Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) to the Northern Ministerial Council, member of the JANA Sustainability Advisory Council and a member of the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) Statutory Review Independent Expert Panel 2024. He is currently Vice-President (First Nations) at The Australian National University.