Reynolds struck up a friendship with
Eddie Mabo, who was employed as a groundsman and gardener at
James Cook University from 1967 to 1975. Reynolds, as well as his wife
Margaret, were supporters of the
Black Community School in
South Townsville, which Mabo was instrumental in establishing, and which operated from 1973 to 1985. The Reynolds', as respected members of the Townsville academic community, publicly defended the school when it came under attack from the local
Townsville Daily Bulletin newspaper as well as some local politicians in September 1973. In his book ''Why Weren't We Told?'', Reynolds describes the talks they had regarding Mabo's people's rights to their lands, on
Murray Island, in the
Torres Strait. Reynolds writes: Eddie [...] would often talk about his village and about his own land, which he assured us would always be there when he returned because everyone knew it belonged to his family. His face shone when he talked of his village and his land. So intense and so obvious was his attachment to his land that I began to worry about whether he had any idea at all about his legal circumstances. [...] I said something like: "You know how you've been telling us about your land and how everyone knows it's Mabo land? Don't you realise that
nobody actually owns land on Murray Island? It's all crown land." He was stunned. [...] How could the whitefellas question something so obvious as his ownership of his land? Reynolds looked into the issue of Indigenous land ownership in international law, and encouraged Mabo to take the matter to court. "It was there over the sandwiches and tea that the first step was taken which led to
the Mabo judgement in June 1992". Mabo then talked to lawyers, and Reynolds "had little to do with the case itself from that time", although he and Mabo remained friends until the latter's death in January 1992. Reynolds' 1970s
oral history project however contributed to the High Court's recognition of land rights. ==Other activities==