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Tony Abbott will on Monday become Australia's first Prime Minister to visit the grave site of prominent land rights campaigner Eddie Koiki Mabo during his week- long tour of the Torres Strait Islands.
Mabo is best known for his role in a landmark High Court of Australia decision which overturned the legal doctrine of Terra Nullis -- land belonging to nobody.
The British applied the doctrine to land ownership during their colonization of Australia.
The decision, delivered in 1992, rejected the doctrine of Terra Nullis, instead recognizing the Australian common law doctrine of Aboriginal title, which recognizes the land rights of Australia's indigenous peoples.
Mabo passed away in 1992 from cancer, aged 56, before the high court's findings were delivered.
The decision led to the introduction of the Native Title Act 1993 into Australian law.
Gail Mabo, daughter of the late Eddie Mabo, will personally escort Abbott to the gravesite, Australia's national broadcaster reported on Monday.
Gail Mabo said Abbott's visit should not be underestimated.
"For him to actually come and be the first prime minister to visit this island is very significant," Gail Mabo said.
"To me that's him showing respect in the fact that he is taking time to come here and do the pilgrimage to my father's grave."
Abbott dedicates one week per year to travel to a remote indigenous community in Australia.
Abbott will be based on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait until Thursday, before travelling to Cape York in the far north of Queensland.
In 2014, Abbott famously ran the government from a tent while visiting Arnhem Land in the north east of the Northern Territory. Enditem
