Dark palm tree, painted by Eddie Mabo, about 1980

Eddie Koiki Mabo (1936–1992), a Torres Strait Islander from Mer (Murray Island), was a prominent Indigenous activist, best known for his role during the 1980s and 1990s land rights case ‘Mabo and Others v. Queensland’. This ten-year battle culminated in the High Court of Australia's 1992 landmark ruling that native title existed for all Indigenous people.

This artwork is significant as a personal object created by Mabo, and as an object which relates to his attachment to Murray Island.