Bonita Mabo

Ernestine Bonita Mabo (née Neehow) AO (c. 1943 – 26 November 2018), was an Australian educator and activist for Aboriginal Australians, Torres Strait Islanders, and Australian South Sea Islanders. She was the wife of Eddie Mabo until his death in 1992.

On 31 May 2018, a star was named in her honour at the Sydney Observatory, during the visit of the N.S.W. Judicial Commission's Ngara Yura Program to the Observatory. Her daughter, artist Gail Mabo, was present, since Bonita was ill. Another star, Koiki, had been named in memory of Eddie Koiki Mabo in 2015 on the 23rd anniversary of the Mabo decision.

On 17 November 2018, James Cook University conferred upon Bonita Mabo an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in recognition of her outstanding contribution to social justice and human rights at a private ceremony held in Brisbane.

Bonita Mabo died in Brisbane on 26 November 2018, aged 75.

Mabo was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia on Australia Day (26 January) 2013, "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".

In the 2012 television film Mabo, Deborah Mailman played the role of Bonita Mabo, opposite Jimi Bani who played her husband Eddie Mabo.

In 1973, Eddie and Bonita Mabo established the Black Community School in Townsville, where children could learn their own culture rather than white culture. Bonita worked in the school as a teacher's aide and oversaw day-to-day operations.