The Aborigines never owned land, they simply moved around in their particular territory as hunter gathers. There was only one tribe who actually farmed and they were in Victoria farming eels, they were the only Aboriginals to have permanent housing, consisting of stoned walled huts, covered with brush roofing.
The Torres Strait Islanders on the other hand are not Aboriginal and as such their culture is completely different. They did farm the land they owned and traded with those from neighbouring islands. As rightly pointed out above Mabo was all to do with the TSI's who owned land.
