Mer (Murray Island), in the eastern group of Torres Strait Islands off the northern tip of Australia, is home to the Meriam people.
The Meriam people are perhaps best known for their involvement in the High Court of Australia's Mabo decision which fundamentally changed land law in Australia - recognising Aboriginal traditional ownership.
Although gardening takes priority, each Meriam family has sea rights, and on the reefs in front of their houses, which are mainly built above the beach, they maintain stone fish-weirs and crayfish holes. Skilled seafarers, the Meriam also retain fishing rights over reefs extending 60 km north and south of the islands.
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“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
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