Uncle Ray Jackson
‘Mark Holcroft Inquest,’ 18 August 2011, email communication.
Image: Uncle Ray Jackson, President of the Indigenous Social Justice Association and recipient of the prix des droits de l’homme de la Republique Francaise 2013. Photo: Joseph Pugliese.
Ruby Langford Ginibi
My Bundjalung People (University of Queensland Press 1994, 44).
Image: “Ruby Langford Ginibi’s protest on 26th January 1988 at Mrs MacQuarie’s Chair in the Domain, the Bicentennial Year 1988.” Photo: Lisa Bellear.
Richard Frankland
Writer’s Notes, Conversations with the Dead
Born in Melbourne, but raised mostly on the coast in south-west Victoria, Richard is a proud Gunditjmara man who has worked as a Soldier, Fisherman, and Field Officer during the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. His work with the Royal Commission led to his appearance as presenter in the award winning Australian documentary Who Killed Malcolm Smith?Richard has written, directed and produced over fifty video, documentary and film projects including the award winning No Way to Forget, After Mabo, Harry’s War and The Convincing Ground.
Some links to his work:
Who killed Malcolm Smith? Who Killed Malcolm Smith?
No Way to Forget No Way To Forget
Helen Ulli Corbett
Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia [ALSWA] Annual Report, 1987-1988, quoted in Fiona Skyring, Justice: A History of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (Crawley: UWA Publishing 2011, 281).
Aunty Helen Ulli Corbett was the Chairperson of the National Committee to Defend Black Rights (NCDBR). In 1992 she presented a position paper, prepared by the NCDBR, entitled ‘Miscarriages of Justice in Australia: Aboriginal Girls and Women‘ at International conferences and forums.
Image: The West Australian. Photo: Alex Bainbridge.
Auntie Helen Ulli Corbett’s foundational role in the campaign to end Black deaths in custody and in the international human rights movement for Indigenous Peoples was recognised by the award of an Honorary Doctorate by Curtin University on February 6, 2019. Photos: Shaphan Cox.
Listen to Marisa Sposaro interview Auntie Helen on The Doin Time Show in June 2020.
Image: Original Nations passport juxtaposed with the colonial papers that denied Aboriginal people free movement across their own lands. Artwork: Sydney Crossborders Collective, with special thanks to Shane Reside.
Tanya Tagaq, Inuit throat singer, performing a work titled Qiksaaktuq: an improvised lament for the murdered and missing Indigenous Canadian women.
Joy James
‘Life and Other Responsibilities’ in Death and Other Penalties: Philosophy in a Time of Mass Incarceration Ed. Geoffrey Adelsberg, Lisa Guenther and Scott Zeman (Fordham University Press 2015, vii).
Image: #NotABugSplat
The 2017 Sydney Peace Prize was awarded to Black Lives Matter on 2 November 2017 at the Sydney Town Hall in Australia. Receiving the prize on behalf of this organisation, described as championing a ‘movement for freedom, justice and dignity for all Black lives’, were the U.S. co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, and her Canadian counterpart, Rodney Diverlus.
Patrisse Cullors and Rodney Diverlus
Black Lives Matter in Australia: Wherever Black People are, There is Racism—and Resistance
Also see: Abbie O’Brien
Black Lives Matter founders meet Australia’s Indigenous community
Listen to an audio interview here
and here
‘Far from home‘ is a song sung in a traditional Kurdish style about being far from home and surrounded by no one. It is a haunting tribute to the endurance of the human spirit whilst being detained on Manus Island.
It was made via mobile phone and internet between Manus Island and Narrm, Melbourne in 2018.
By: Farhad Bandesh (vocals, field recordings, concept) and Anna Liebzeit (music, production, mixing, vocals)
You can support Farhad by purchasing the song via: https://farhadbandesh.bandcamp.com/releases
On 21 April 2018, a memorial event to celebrate Uncle Ray Jackson’s extraordinary social justice work and legacy was held at the Redfern Community Centre. The late Uncle Ray was President of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Laureate of the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic (2013) and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (2016) from Macquarie University. Uncle Ray was first and foremost an indefatigable fighter for social justice across multiple fronts, including for those in prison, for the victims and families of Indigenous deaths in custody, for the victims of police violence, and for refugees and asylum seekers incarcerated in Australia’s domestic and offshore immigration detention centres.
The event opened with a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony and it included speeches by his daughters, Carolyne and Francine Jackson, and his granddaughter, Madika. The memorial event brought together a wide cross-section of speakers including Indigenous Elders, Indigenous families of death-in-custody victims, community activists, lawyers, forensic pathologists, prison abolitionists, feminists, academics, students, queer activists, human rights advocates, families, media representatives, trade unionists, and many others from all walks of life. It is a tribute to the all-encompassing reach of Uncle Ray’s social justice vision that such a diversity of speakers came to the event.
The event also included an exhibition of Uncle Ray’s posters and T-shirts which, collectively, evidenced the social and political history of his social justice activism and work. The memorable event concluded with the unveiling of a commemorative poster celebrating ‘a people’s history of Ray Jackson.’
Dgadi-Dugarang: Talk Loud, Talk StrongA Tribute to Aboriginal leader Uncle Ray Jackson,1941-2015. To read the full memorial essay: https://espace.curtin.edu.au/handle/20.500.11937/44833
Ray Jackson special: An interview with Joseph Pugliese and Carolyn Jackson, the daughter of Ray. A special memorial show about Ray Jackson, First Nations warrior, advocate to end aboriginal deaths in custody and the co-founder of Indigenious Social Justice Association(link is external) Sydney, awarded a human rights medal from France. http://www.3cr.org.au/dointime/episode-201804231600/ray-jackson-special
Meriki Onus
‘Call on Aboriginal and other minorities to unite forces against racism’, SBS NITV radio.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are respectfully advised that this website contains images of and references to deceased persons.
All viewers are respectfully advised that the site contains images of and references to the deaths in custody of Indigenous peoples, Black people and refugees that may cause distress.