Key Quotes
“Everything here is yours… This is who you are” Benny Mabo
“Young men go to the mainland… they forget everything” Benny Mabo
“How does the Act work Eddie? … I protect you from yourself” Pat Killoran
“I’m not working as a slave”
“Koiki… sounds cheeky…. Cheeky Koiki” Bonita Mabo
“I wanna be you, reading your dictionary, talking in the union, talking big words I’ve never even heard of! They all say it – Koiki’s the one” Dave Passi
“They think we’re gonna leave our black skins on their sheets”
“It’s not me, it’s the law” Bartender
“People like us have no choice but to be troublemakers. Cause if we don’t, we don’t have any pride left”
“I’ll give you stinkin’ pride! You’ve got three kids stupid man, healthy happy kids. What more do you want?”
“It’s not an easy road, Eddie, the path of an activist… They will find a way to silence you” Henry Reynolds
“What more can they do to me that hasn’t already been done?”
“We’ve been farming on that place before your mob set foot on the land. We handed it down from father to son. How can we not own it?”
“You think you own that land because some giant octopus said you do?” University student
“It’s a clever, snide way of getting something for nothing…. They are not Aboriginal people and they are getting away with murder, in the sense that they are climbing on to the backs of the true Aborigines” Joh Bjelke-Peterson (Queensland Premier)
“I wanna look black”
“What we say, is that while you’ve been down south, doing all your trouble-making and agitating, we have been trying year in and year out to get a decent deal with Paddy Killoran” Islander Councillor
“Stuff from the movies like, ‘We’re gonna kill you’ and ‘Do you know where your kids are?’” Bonita
“I reckon that’s the moment I fell in love with you” Bonita
“I’m not scared of them”
“I’ll do that to the whole bloody lot of you if it earns me a bit of respect”
“Eddie Mabo, in my view, is quite capable of tailoring his story to whatever shape he perceives will advance his cause. I would not be inclined to act on his evidence on a matter bearing his self-interest” Justice Moynihan
“If I appeal it’s about Eddie Mabo’s land. If I don’t and you take it to the High Court it’s about all the blackfellas isn’t it? Not just the islanders, on the mainland too”
“I wish I’d spent more time at home when the kids were growing up”
“The nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is an acknowledgement of and a retreat from those past injustices” High Court Judge
“I also thought about my wife, the most important person in my life, who has stuck to me over many hardships and hurdles. But somehow we made it. My wife has been the most adorable person, a friend closest in my life, a most wonderful lover. We loved every minute of our lives together”
“Young men go to the mainland… they forget everything” Benny Mabo
“How does the Act work Eddie? … I protect you from yourself” Pat Killoran
“I’m not working as a slave”
“Koiki… sounds cheeky…. Cheeky Koiki” Bonita Mabo
“I wanna be you, reading your dictionary, talking in the union, talking big words I’ve never even heard of! They all say it – Koiki’s the one” Dave Passi
“They think we’re gonna leave our black skins on their sheets”
“It’s not me, it’s the law” Bartender
“People like us have no choice but to be troublemakers. Cause if we don’t, we don’t have any pride left”
“I’ll give you stinkin’ pride! You’ve got three kids stupid man, healthy happy kids. What more do you want?”
“It’s not an easy road, Eddie, the path of an activist… They will find a way to silence you” Henry Reynolds
“What more can they do to me that hasn’t already been done?”
“We’ve been farming on that place before your mob set foot on the land. We handed it down from father to son. How can we not own it?”
“You think you own that land because some giant octopus said you do?” University student
“It’s a clever, snide way of getting something for nothing…. They are not Aboriginal people and they are getting away with murder, in the sense that they are climbing on to the backs of the true Aborigines” Joh Bjelke-Peterson (Queensland Premier)
“I wanna look black”
“What we say, is that while you’ve been down south, doing all your trouble-making and agitating, we have been trying year in and year out to get a decent deal with Paddy Killoran” Islander Councillor
“Stuff from the movies like, ‘We’re gonna kill you’ and ‘Do you know where your kids are?’” Bonita
“I reckon that’s the moment I fell in love with you” Bonita
“I’m not scared of them”
“I’ll do that to the whole bloody lot of you if it earns me a bit of respect”
“Eddie Mabo, in my view, is quite capable of tailoring his story to whatever shape he perceives will advance his cause. I would not be inclined to act on his evidence on a matter bearing his self-interest” Justice Moynihan
“If I appeal it’s about Eddie Mabo’s land. If I don’t and you take it to the High Court it’s about all the blackfellas isn’t it? Not just the islanders, on the mainland too”
“I wish I’d spent more time at home when the kids were growing up”
“The nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is an acknowledgement of and a retreat from those past injustices” High Court Judge
“I also thought about my wife, the most important person in my life, who has stuck to me over many hardships and hurdles. But somehow we made it. My wife has been the most adorable person, a friend closest in my life, a most wonderful lover. We loved every minute of our lives together”
Checklist Requirement: Quote Bank Activity
Use the template below as a guide to collecting quotes to use in your essays. Categorise your quotes under theme.
mabo_quotes_by_theme.docx | |
File Size: | 69 kb |
File Type: | docx |