The history wars famously involved the ‘black armband view of history’; a pejorative phrase used by conservatives to attack historians who they thought focussed too much on the negative impact of colonisation on Australia's indigenous population, contrasted with the ‘three cheers’ view, which saw Australian history as predominantly something to cheer about. See DavisonGraeme, The Use and Abuse of Australian History (2000) and MacIntyreStuartClarkAnna, The History Wars (2004).
Hurley v Clements [2009] QCA 167. It is a custom in some indigenous communities to avoid directly naming a deceased person for a period of time after the death, as a mark of respect. Mulrunji was the name nominated by the family and means ‘the departed one’, see footnote 1 of Boe Lawyers Final Submission on behalf of the Palm Island Aboriginal Council (16 August 2006 [query date and web reference]) <boelawyers.com.au/current%20focus.html> at 30 October. Chloe Hooper notes that in fact the indigenous witnesses in the Palm Island case continued to refer to the dead man as Cameron, with only the lawyers and journalists using Mulrunji, which she claims was consistently mispronounced. See HooperChloe, The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008). This claim is consistent with the family-supported memorial website for Mulrunji <myspace.com/mulrunji> at 30 October 2009, which directs that the name is pronounced ‘moordinyi’.
6.
LawyersBoe, above no 5, 21–22.
7.
Ibid23. See also WatersJeff, Gone for a Song: A Death in Custody on Palm Island (2008).
8.
Ibid22. See also evidence of HurleyChristopher in R v Christopher James Hurley, Indictment No. 4/2007 as reproduced in Hooper, above n 5, 229.
9.
ClementsChristine, Findings of Inquest into the Death of Mulrunji Townsville: Office of the State Coroner 27 September 2006 p 14, <austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AILR/2006/81.html> at 30 October 2009. Note that this decision has been overturned but the second inquest has not yet begun.
10.
Ibid, 7–9.
11.
Boe, above n 5, 48.
12.
Clements, above n 9, 10–11.
13.
Waters, above n 7, 73.
14.
Almost two years later on 27 September 2006.
15.
Clements, above n 9, 10–11.
16.
ViellarisReneeAtfieldCameronWattAmanda, ‘Police strike threat in support officer’, Courier Mail (Brisbane) 27 January 2007.
17.
Sarah Volger and AAP, ‘Officer welcome back on Coast duty’, Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast) 22 June 2007.
18.
Ibid.
19.
Hurley v Clements & Ors (No 2) [2009] QCA 207.
20.
MasseyDoreen, ‘Power-geometry and a progressive sense of place’ in BirdBarry Curtis JonRobertsonTim Putnam GeorgeTicknerLisa (ed), Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change (1993), 66.
Palm Island: Future Directions, Resource Officer Report, State of Queensland (January 2006), 27.
25.
RCIADIC, Regional Report of Inquiry into Queensland, Appendix 1(a).
26.
Now governed by chapter 3 of the Land Act1994 (Qld).
27.
s 35Land Act1994 (Qld).
28.
Waters, above n 7, 41.
29.
BoeAndrew, ‘Palm Island – Something is very wrong’Australian National University Public Lecture Series 2005 (28 September 2005), 8.
30.
Ibid, 5.
31.
Waters, op cit, 150–165.
32.
Palm Island: Future Directions, op cit, 35.
33.
Boe, above n 5.
34.
MasseyDoreen‘Geographies of Responsibility’ (2004) 86B(1) Geografiska Annaler Series B, Human Geography5.
35.
VeitchScott, Law and Irresponsibility: On the Legitimation of Human Suffering (2007), 99–114.
36.
MothaStewart, ‘The Failure of “Postcolonial” Sovereignty in Australia’ (2005) 22Australian Feminist Law Journal107.
37.
In certain circumstances. See especially the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) is excluded from the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth): s132(2).
See for example the Hindmarsh Island Bridge affair, critiqued in BellDiane, Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A world that is, was, and will be (1998).
40.
WatsonIrene, ‘Illusionists and Hunters: Being Aboriginal in this Occupied Space’ (2005) 22Australian Feminist Law Journal15.
41.
Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth). Section 132 excludes the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) from operation in certain areas of the Northern Territory.
SmithAndrea, ‘Unmasking the State: Racial/Gender Terror and Hate Crimes’ (2007) 26Australian Feminist Law Journal47.
44.
AhmedSara, ‘Declarations of Whiteness: The Non-Performativity of Anti-Racism’ (2004) 3(2) borderlands e-journal.
45.
Ibid.
46.
See for example the statement of Queensland Police Minister SpenceJudy on ‘The Law Report’ (11 November 2008) ABC Radio National <abc.net.au/rn/lawreport/stories/2008/2416076.htm> at 12 November 2008.
47.
LangtonMarcia, ‘Trapped in the Aboriginal reality show’ (2007) 19Griffith Review145 and ‘It's time to stop playing politics with vulnerable lives’The Age (Melbourne) 30 November 2007.
48.
Ibid.
49.
‘Police wear colours for colleague: Bands of support’Cairns Post (Cairns) 10 February 2007.
50.
Ibid.
51.
DillawayBenChambersGeoff, ‘Copping it on the radio’Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast) 1 February 2007.
52.
Clements, above n 9.
53.
Newspapers with articles on the wristbands include the Courier Mail, Townsville Bulletin and Cairns Post. Each article is archived on the QPU website at http://www.qpu.asn.au.unionnews.php#_2007.
54.
The QPU did not give copyright permission for the photo described to be reproduced in this article. It can however be accessed online at page 12 of the February 2007 union journal. See http://www.qpu.asn.au/journal07.php.
55.
WatsonIrene‘Aboriginal Women's Law and Lives: How Might We Keep Growing the Law?’ (2007) 26Australian Feminist Law Journal95 at 99.
56.
McKennaMichael, ‘Up in arms over thin blue line’The Australian (Sydney), 26 May 2007.
