Mabo Oration

The Mabo Oration is a biennial event presented by the Queensland Human Rights Commission and Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). The inaugural Oration was held in 2005.

It celebrates and pays tribute to Eddie Mabo and the landmark High Court decision which bears his name, legally recognising the traditional custodianship of country Indigenous people hold, and have held for thousands of years prior to colonisation.

2023 Mabo Oration: Professor Megan Davis

Our 2023 Mabo Oration – the first since the pandemic – was delivered by Professor Megan Davis, with special guest speakers Professor Henry Reynolds and Gail Mabo, hosted by Jeff McMullen as MC.

This year’s Oration was held on Friday 2 June and took place in Townsville for the first time, the place where Eddie Mabo began his fight to overturn terra nullius.

Watch the 2023 Oration

Watch Professor Davis' address on Youtube (run time: 53:37 - fully captioned)

• Download the transcript of the 2023 Oration (PDF File, 350.1 KB)
• Download the transcript of the 2023 Oration (MS Word Document, 262.0 KB)

Watch the panel discussion on Youtube (run time: 25:51 - fully captioned)

• Download the transcript of the panel discussion (MS Word Document, 251.9 KB)
• Download the transcript of the panel discussion  (PDF File, 275.9 KB)

About our guest speakers

Professor Megan Davis

Professor Dr Megan Davis grew up in Eagleby and Hervey Bay and is a Cobble Cobble woman of the Barunggam Nation. Prof. Davis is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Society (PVCS) at UNSW Sydney. Professor Davis is also the Balnaves Chair of Constitutional Law, a Professor of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law Centre UNSW Law.

She is a renowned constitutional lawyer and public law expert, focusing on the human rights of First Nations peoples. She has been a leading lawyer on constitutional reform for the recognition of First Nations rights for two decades and has led the Uluru Statement from the Heart work for the past five years. She was a Commissioner on the QLD Commission of Inquiry into Youth Detention Centres in 2016 and was the Chair and author of ‘Family is Culture’, an inquiry into NSW Aboriginal Out of Home care (2017-2019).

She is a globally recognised expert in Indigenous rights and was elected by the UN Human Rights Council to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples based in Geneva in 2017 and again in 2019 (2019-2022) and was previously elected by the Economic and Social Council in New York serving for six years as an expert member and Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, UN Headquarters in New York (2011-2016).

Prof Davis is an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She is a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission, a director on the Cowboys Community Foundation Board, a Commissioner for Western Australia Rugby League Commission and director on the International Rugby League board.

Professor Henry Reynolds

Henry Reynolds worked for many years at James Cook University in Townsville. He worked with Eddie Mabo on many projects and was involved in the early discussions which eventually led to the Mabo Case in the High Court. He pioneered the development of Aboriginal history and has published more than twenty books which have won major literary prizes.

Previous Orations