LOGAN City councillors have marked the death of the late Dr Bonita Mabo at today’s full council meeting.
Cr Russell Lutton expressed his sympathy to the family and friends of Dr Mabo.
He asked for letters of condolence to be sent to surviving family members who live in Logan. They include a sister and a granddaughter.
A state funeral will be held for Dr Mabo tomorrow, Thursday, December 6, at Townsville Stadium at 1pm.
Councillors and members of the public gallery stood to take a moment’s silence to remember Dr Mabo alongside city residents who had passed.
Ernestine ‘Bonita’ Mabo will be remembered as a matriarch of reconciliation and native title, working alongside her husband, Edward ‘Koiki’ Mabo, for the recognition of Indigenous land rights in Australia.
A state funeral will be held for Dr Mabo tomorrow, Thursday, December 6, at Townsville Stadium at 1pm.
Dr Mabo’s involvement in Indigenous organisations included 10 years on the Central Queensland Land Council.
In 2013, she was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the Indigenous community and to human rights as an advocate for the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander peoples.
Dr Mabo started Australia’s first community school, the Black Community School in Townsville and was a champion of Indigenous education.
She was also a staunch advocate for Australian South Sea Islanders and was honorary patron of the Australian South Sea Islanders – Port Jackson, the interim Australian South Sea Islander national body.
In November, Dr Mabo was awarded a James Cook University honorary doctorate for “recognition of her outstanding contribution, made over 45 years, to the community, particularly her advocacy and campaigning for Indigenous schooling and the rights of Indigenous Australians and Australian South Sea Islanders”.
