This book is a collection of key legal decisions affecting Indigenous Australians, which have been re-imagined so as to be inclusive of Indigenous people’s stories, historical experience, perspectives and worldviews.
In this groundbreaking work, Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars have collaborated to rewrite 16 key decisions. Spanning from 1889 to 2017, the judgments reflect the trajectory of Indigenous people’s engagements with Australian law. The collection includes decisions that laid the foundation for the wrongful application of terra nullius and the long disavowal of native title. Contributors have also challenged narrow judicial interpretations of native title, which have denied recognition to Indigenous people who suffered the prolonged impacts of dispossession. Exciting new voices have reclaimed Australian law to deliver justice to the Stolen Generations and to families who have experienced institutional and police racism. Contributors have shown how judicial officers can use their power to challenge systemic racism and tell the stories of Indigenous people who have been dehumanised by the criminal justice system.
The new judgments are characterised by intersectional perspectives which draw on postcolonial, critical race and whiteness theories. Several scholars have chosen to operate within the parameters of legal doctrine. Some have imagined new truth-telling forums, highlighting the strength and creative resistance of Indigenous people to oppression and exclusion. Others have rejected the possibility that the legal system, which has been integral to settler-colonialism, can ever deliver meaningful justice to Indigenous people.
Author(s): Nicole Watson, Heather Douglas
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 342
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of figures
Contributors
Foreword by Megan Davis
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction
Essay: Nicole Watson and Heather Douglas
Part I Sovereignty
Chapter 2 Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971) 17 FLR 141
Essay: Osca Monaghan
Chapter 3 Cooper v Stuart (1889) 14 App Cas 286
Commentary: Eddie Synot and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne
Judgment: Eddie Synot and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne
Chapter 4 Walker v New South Wales [1994] HCA 64
Commentary: Tanya Mitchell and Amanda Porter
Judgment: Amanda Porter and Tanya Mitchell
Part II Land and sea Country
Chapter 5 Tickner v Chapman (1995) 57 FCR 451
Commentary: Narelle Bedford and Peter Billings
Judgment: Narelle Bedford and Peter Billings
Chapter 6 Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria (2002) 214 CLR 422
Commentary: Simon Young
Judgment: Marcelle Burns
Chapter 7 Akiba on behalf of the Torres Strait Regional Sea Claims Group v Commonwealth [2013] HCA 33
Commentary: Alison Whittaker
Judgment: Virginia Marshall
Part III Racism and discrimination
Chapter 8 Kartinyeri v Commonwealth [1998] HCA 22
Commentary: Larissa Behrendt and Taryn Lee
Judgment: Larissa Behrendt and Taryn Lee
Chapter 9 Commissioner of Corrective Services v Aldridge (No 2) [2002] NSWADTAP 6
Commentary: Debbie Bargallie and Jennifer Nielsen
Judgment: Jennifer Nielsen and Debbie Bargallie
Chapter 10 Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103
Commentary: Simon Rice
Poem and note: Alison Whittaker
Part IV Family and identity
Chapter 11 Dempsey v Rigg [1914] St R Qd 245
Commentary: Trudie Broderick
Judgment: Nicole Watson
Chapter 12 South Australia v Lampard-Trevorrow [2010] SASC 56
Commentary: Terri Libesman
Judgment: Kirsten Gray
Chapter 13 Backford v Backford [2017] FamCAFC 1
Commentary: Keryn Ruska and Zoe Rathus
Judgment: Keryn Ruska and Zoe Rathus
Part V Criminalisation and criminal neglect
Chapter 14 Roach v Electoral Commissioner (2007) 233 CLR 162
Commentary: Jonathan Crowe and Dani Larkin
Judgment: Dani Larkin and Jonathan Crowe
Chapter 15 Nona and Ahmat v Barnes [2012] QSC 35
Commentary: Heather Douglas and Heron Loban
Judgment: Heron Loban and Heather Douglas, translation
Deenorah Yellub
Chapter 16 Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 302 ALR 192
Commentary: Mary Spiers Williams
Judgment: Mary Spiers Williams
Chapter 17 Report of the Inquest into the Death of Ms Dhu (Perth, 16 December 2016
Commentary: Suvendrini Perera
Judgment: Hannah McGlade
Index
