Mabo involved the invention of a concept called "native title" which The High Court recognised as an entitlement of the Aboriginal people of Australia. Peter Connolly (1993) has this to say about "native title".

"Native title" was certainly nothing resembling freehold, or exclusive occupation of the great tracts of land over which the Aborigines roamed with the seasons. The "rights which their descendants will have lost if native title" is extinguished, may, according to the circumstances, include:

(a) first and foremost the right to enter on land to hunt for native game and to forage for food;

(b) the right to resort to ceremonial sites; and

(c) the right to set fire to the landscape, including the national parks. — Connolly (1993:90-91)