The grandson of Eddie Koiki Mabo will mark the 30th anniversary of the native title patriarch's historic High Court win by restoring his Torres Strait Islands home.
Kaleb Mabo is planning the tribute after discovering his grandfather's traditional home and final resting place Las Village on the remote Mer (Murray) Island had become a "mess".
Mr Mabo has launched a fundraising campaign to ensure Las Village is "standing tall" by June 3 - exactly three decades after the landmark legal victory that established native title for Indigenous Australians.
The idea to create a "monument in native title history" has been three years in the making.
Back in 2019, Mr Mabo visited the island - one of Australia's most remote Indigenous communities - and arrived at Las Village to pay his respects.
He was devastated by what he saw.
"When I first arrived it saddened me greatly, as the land my ancestors once occupied had become a mess," said Mr Mabo, who has assumed caretaker duties from his mother Gail.
Mr Mabo was mortified to find the land his grandfather, who died in 1992, had "fought and died for" had been claimed by the jungle and littered with rubbish and debris from the sea.
He returned a year later to clear the land by hand using only a rake and machete before his lightbulb moment.
"I promised myself that I would breathe life back into Las and the Piadrum clan, igniting the fire that once fuelled my grandfather," he said.
Mr Mabo says a restored Las Village would allow Koiki's clansmen (Piadrum) to mark the 30th anniversary with traditional ceremonies that have not been conducted on the island for more than 20 years.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for materials, airfares and shipping of equipment and ensure the work is completed by "Mabo Day" on June 3, which is a public holiday throughout the Torres Strait.
