Mabo, Noel Loos and Eddie Koiki

Professor Noel Loos taught the history of black-white relations in Australia at James Cook University in Townsville. He has conducted research into frontier conflict, the place of Aborigines in colonial society, and the evolution of government policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including the role of Christian missions. In the 1970s he pioneered the development of teacher education programs in Queensland for Aboriginal and Islander people. A friend of Koiki Mabo for 25 years, Professor Loos has published widely on indigenous history and politics, including: Invasion and Resistance: Aboriginal–European Relations on the North Queensland Frontier 1861–1897 (ANU Press, 1982), Succeeding Against the Odds: Townsville’s Aboriginal and Islander Teacher Education Program (edited with Greg Miller) (Allen & Unwin, 1989), Indigenous Minorities and Education: Australian and Japanese Perspectives of their Indigenous Peoples, the Ainu, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (edited with Takeshi Osanai) (Sanyusha Publishing Co., Tokyo, 1993) and White Christ Black Cross: The emergence of a black church (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 2007).