Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "Update: T-shirt 'Offensive' under the New Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW); Voluntary Fund; Freemantle Plaque; Development Plans for Sacred Site in Perth" [1989] AboriginalLawB 1; (1989) 1(36) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2

• Update
• T-Shirt "Offensive" Under The New Summary Offences Act 1988 (Nsw)
• Voluntary Fund
• Freemantle Plaque
• Development Plans For Sacred Site In Perth

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Update

T-shirt "offensive" under the New Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW)

An Aboriginal man in Walgett was charged under the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) for wearing a T-shirt with the words "Black Deaths in Police Custody" and depicting a white arm clad in police sergeants uniform, clutching a noose, and being restrained by another black arm.

The police case is based on two grounds: One is the belief that the T-shirt is "offensive" under section 4 of the Act; the other is the belief that the display of the T-shirt could incite trouble in Walgett.

The first ground indicates some contentious aspects of the new legislation. Section 4 closely follows the common law definition of offensiveness, except that it does not contain the objective test of offensiveness "in the mind of the reasonable person."

The AboriginalLB hopes to publish a case note of the proceedings in the near future.

Voluntary Fund

The General Assembly of the United Nations in 1985 established a Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. The purpose of the fund is to assist representatives of Indigenous communities and organisations to participate in the deliberation of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations by providing them with financial assistance. The Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund will meet for its second session in April 1989. One function of the board at this session will be the selection of candidates for the receipt of financial assistance in connection with the seventh session of the Working Group which will be held in August 1989.

Applications should be accompanied by detailed information responding to the requirements by Assembly resolution 40/13 (copies of the resolution & a Questionnaire to assist in drafting applications available from the Aboriginal Law Centre, University of NSW). Applications should be addressed to:

Board of Trustees

Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations

Centre for Human Rights

Palais des Nations

1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland

Applications will be received no later than 15 March 1989.

Freemantle Plaque

In 1988 a group o staff and students from Murdoch University won a battle to have a monument erected in Freemantle to acknowledge the killing of Aborigines by the State's white settlers. Part of the new plaque will read:

This plaque is in memory of the Aboriginal people killed at La Grange. It also commemorates all other Aboriginal people who died during the invasion of their country.

The plaque will be erected close to an existing monument which celebrates the 'heroic deaths' of three white explorers killed by Aboriginal people in controversial circumstances, and the leader of a 'punitive' expedition which ended in the massacre of an unknown number of Aboriginal people.

Dr Bruce Scares, a history lecturer at Murdoch, described the plaque as part of a long process of re-writing Australia's history which will slowly wipe away the distorted lies from hundreds of monuments around the country and tell the "other side" of the story. Dr Scales commented:

Amidst all the praise of our pioneers, all the eulogy of our explorers, we do well to remember those whose lands and lives were taken from them.

Development Plans for Sacred Site in Perth

In WA, support is sought for the Bibbulman people who have set up a protest camp on their sacred ground which is the site of the Old Brewery in Perth. The site is sacred ground for the local Aboriginal people. It is a registered sacred site under the WA legislation. The WA government proposes to develop the site as a tourist centre. Robert Bropho comments:

Aboriginal dancing there will be like dancing on our grandmother and grandfathers' graves. It is making mockery of our beliefs and our living culture.

The WA government has refused to consult the local Aboriginal people in developing its plans. Yet Aboriginal culture will be used as a drawing card. The unions have supported the protesters, placing bans on the site until the elections. The protesters seek further support in the form of donations to the camp and telegrams/letters of protest to Premier Dowding, and other relevant state or federal ministers. Donations can be sent to:

Waugal Aboriginal Nation

Mounts Bay Road

Perth 6000.

The protest may continue until 27 February, when the issue goes before the Supreme Court of WA. The protesters invite Aboriginal people to join them on the site.