Thirty years after Mabo, First Nations people are on the verge of true self-determination. We hope not to be disappointed

‘As Australia’s First People we hold our sovereignty not as some pan-Indigenous identity but as individual nations grounded in traditional ownership of our lands.’ Photograph: AAP/National Archives Of Australia

Thirty years ago, Mabo overturned terra nullius, the lie that Australia was “nobody’s land” and effectively erased Australia’s First People in any legal capacity. By overturning terra nullius, the high court acknowledged that Australia’s First People hold rights in Australian land and waters, rights that predate the assertion of British sovereignty by some 60,000 years. For this we give our everlasting thanks to the Meriam people, traditional owners of the Murray Islands, who brought this action to the settler’s highest court, Eddie Koiki Mabo, Reverend David Passi, Sam Passi, James Rice and Celuia Mapo Sale.

The high court’s decision in Mabo and the subsequent passing of the Native Title Act 1993 fundamentally changed the relationship between First Nations and settler Australians. Mabo opened the door and provided the First Nations of Australia with a seat at the table with governments, the resource and pastoral industries.