Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that the following contains the names and images of people who are deceased.

The Eddie Mabo stamps are a work in the Parliament House Art Collection by artist Bonita-Marie Mabo, Piadram, Munbarra peoples. The stamps are a celebration of the artist’s grandfather, Eddie Koiki Mabo (1936-1992), Meriam people.

Boneta-Marie Mabo made the Eddie Mabo stamps in response to a series of official stamps that the Australian Post released in 2013. The Australian Post stamps depicted Eddie Mabo along with: Neville Bonner AO, Jagera people; Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Nunukul people; Charles Perkins AO, Arrente, Kalkadoon peoples; and Colleen ‘Shirley’ Perry Smith AM, Wiradjuri people.

Inspired by the Australian Post’s stamps, Boneta-Marie Mabo said:

"To honour my grandfather for the personal impact he had on my life I wanted to create my own stamps. The stamps are cut and mounted on a strip of backing paper to replicate an oversize stamp roll. This is a visual representation of the legacy of culture and heritage that was left for me. (…) I created a modern interpretation of my cultural background and urban culture through this piece."¹

The six Eddie Mabo stamps incorporate Meriam iconography and take inspiration from artists Reko Rennie, Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi people, and American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Boneta-Marie Mabo won the People’s Choice award in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2014 with her stamps.

You can read more about Eddie Koiki Mabo and his role in the Mabo v Queensland No.2 case which would overturn the legal fiction that, at the time of colonisation, land in Australia was terra nullius or ‘land belonging to no one’ here.

Boneta-Marie Mabo
Boneta-Marie Mabo (born 1989) is a contemporary visual artist. Piadram is her Mer Island clan in the Torres Strait through her grandfather Edward Koiki Mabo and Munbarra through her grandmother Bonita Mabo. The artist also acknowledges her descendance from stolen sugar slaves from Tanna Island, Vanuatu.

Mabo holds a Degree in Visual Arts from Deakin University. In 2014 she won the People’s Choice award in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards; and in 2015 was the inaugural artist-in-residence for the State Library of Queensland’s kuril dhagun Indigenous Knowledge Centre. In 2017 Mabo became the Youth Programs Manager at Sisters Inside, where she leads the Indigenous Art Program. In 2021, Mabo was appointed to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Sentencing Advisory Panel and a member of the Sentencing Advisory Council.

References
1. Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, ‘The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award winners 2014’, 2014. Accessed online via: https://www.magnt.net.au/telstra-natsiaa-2014