Deathscapes

Putting European law up on public trial

Deathscapes

‘The history of the national campaign demanding a Federal Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody was coordinated by Aboriginal/Islander families who had a relative die in prison or police custody or their supporters. They are a living testimony of what united strength is all about. The Royal Commission is one of the most recent and greatest achievements of our people. We have turned the tables! Both internationally and nationally we are putting European law up on public trial. It is now forced into explaining why our justice system allows so many of our people to die in their prisons and lock ups.’

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.


Sharing

This research was primarily supported under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme.

Partial funding was received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Development Grants scheme.

The views expressed herein are those of the named authors and are not necessarily those of the funders.

All content © artists and deathscapes.org, 2017.

Please Read

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.

Proceed