STUDYGUIDE ANITRA NELSON ANITRA NELSON GUIDE STUDY

1 ROBERT IN A RE-ENACTMENT OF IN AND

KERRY FOX KERRY ; THE NEWS ) IS FAST MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF WITH HIS PAPER WITH HIS PAPER A NAME FOR HIMSELF MAKING ) IS FAST THE STORY This was a landmark case in Australia’s history. The story revealed the depth lack and White (2002), directed by Craig Lahiff, is a feature fi lm based on a of institutionalised racism in Australia’s true Australian story. Rupert was in his tent when the police came recent history as well as the persistence Bto question him. Max was black. The policemen were white. This community of demands for justice. Above all, Black was divided into ‘dark people’ and white people. It was Ceduna () at and White is about justice, or rather the Christmas time, 1958. A few days earlier a nine-year-old white girl, Mary Olive Hat- lack of it. tam, had been raped and murdered. Max was interrogated and later charged with the assault. He was tried and found guilty. His sentence was death. CURRICULUM LINKS

Black and White will engage students The case against Max was not ‘black escalated as it was taken to higher from mid-secondary through to terti-

) HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR THE RAPE AND MURDER OF A NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN THE FAR WEST DESERT TOWN OF CEDUNA; MAX STUART SEEN HERE MAX STUART TOWN OF CEDUNA; WEST DESERT THE FAR A NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN AND MURDER OF THE RAPE ARRESTED FOR ) HAS BEEN and white’. It was murky grey. At the courts of appeal in and fi nally out of the ary levels in a wide range of courses trial the police produced a ‘confession’. land—to the Privy Council in Britain. from the Arts, Humanities and Social The recollections of the witnesses did Campaigners to give the Aborigine a Sciences: Studies of Society and not hang together. The story Max told ‘fair trial’ oscillated between arguing Environment, Cultural Studies, Media changed. The intense drama played Max’s innocence or guilt and objecting Studies, Religious Studies, Aboriginal out through 1959 exposed South Aus- to the rights and wrongs of the death and Torres Strait Islander Studies, His- DAVID tralia’s culture, law, and politics in many penalty. tory, Criminal and International Law, shades of grey more often than in black Politics, Sociology, Language and and white. Culture, Philosophy, Human Rights and Colonial Studies. For instance, Fiercely defended by legal aid, the with respect to the VCE Contempo- controversy surrounding Max’s case rary Australian Society (Study Design, THE ACCUSED MAX STUART ( ACCUSED MAX STUART THE WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED WHEN HE WAS ‘INTERVIEWED’ BY POLICE FOR HIS CONFESSION; A YOUNG ( YOUNG RUPERT A ‘INTERVIEWED’ BY POLICE FOR HIS CONFESSION; WAS WHEN HE HAPPENED HAVE MAY WHAT CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: 2 MIDDLE: AS MURDOCH. ROBERT CARLYLE CARLYLE ROBERT

Board of Studies, 2000) this fi lm is most below and follow up on certain refer- BOTTOM: relevant to themes raised in the units 3 ences for further detail. and 4—‘Community and society’ and ‘Citizenship and globalisation’—that We have developed a range of back- explore concepts of community, eth- ground material to help teachers pre- nicity, identity, national culture, and pare students for a screening of Black citizenship. Similarly, with respect to the and White and to support discussion NSW English Stage 6 Syllabus (www.b tention on just one or two of the many of major topics afterwards. There is oardofstudies.nsw.edu.au), Black and questions that Black and White raises. a chronology of events that will be White provides content for discussions Another way to avoid overwhelming useful for all teachers and students. and analyses of: ‘change’, in terms of students is to provide classes with It has been expanded from a simple perceptions and perspectives; timeline to provide detail that falls ‘powerplay’ between people and outside the specifi c content of the what kind of power they represent; fi lm but that is signifi cant in terms and ‘truths’, authority and evidence. of context and other curriculum Indeed the Hon. Justice Michael links. Clearly other sections in this Kirby (29 July 2002) encouraged study guide will relate more or less ROBERT CARLYLE ROBERT all Australians to see Black and to distinctive courses, depending AND White precisely because the issues on their focus. Although certain STARS AS HELEN DEVANEY, A SHARP YOUNG FEMALE LAWYER; IN THE COURTROOM. THE COURTROOM. IN YOUNG FEMALE LAWYER; A SHARP AS HELEN DEVANEY, STARS it raises are relevant today. sections have been titled in a dis-

ciplinary way, teachers will need to FOX KERRY

Introduced and supported by back- scan all the material in this guide for FOX KERRY ground material, Black and White further relevant points. Questions can be used by teachers in a range and activities for students have of ways. The fi lm is an excellent discus- a systematic exploration of the case been highlighted with bullet points. sion starter but provides rich content appropriate to the discipline and level. for detailed analyses too. Teachers are This means that teachers need draw strongly advised to focus students’ at- only selectively on background material LEFT) AND THE RUPERT OUTCOME MURDOCH AWAIT OF THE TRIAL; JOHN GREGG, JOHN GREGG, ( TOP L-R: 3 CHRONOLOGY Justice Reed and Roderic Chamberlain 6 May 1959: O’Sullivan puts Stuart’s is the Queens Council (QC). O’Sullivan’s case against his conviction and sen- This chronology is based on the history legal partner, Miss Helen Devaney, tence in an appeal to the Full Court of presented in The Stuart Case by K.S. helps him represent Stuart. The sug- the Supreme Court of South Australia. Inglis (Black Inc. Books, Melbourne, gestion is made that the police forced It is turned down. Stuart is due to hang 2002 edition). Some of this detail is a false confession from him: Stuart on 22 May. not mentioned or highlighted in the makes a personal statement declaring fi lm but is signifi cant to most thematic his innocence. 14 May 1959: A Catholic priest, the Rev. discussions of the case. Father Thomas Dixon—who speaks 24 April 1959: The jury decides Stuart Stuart’s native tongue—comes forward STARS AS ROMA CHAMBERLAIN, WIFE OF CROWN PROSECUTOR RODERIC CHAMBERLAIN AS ROMA CHAMBERLAIN, STARS 20 December (Saturday 11.30pm) 1958: the is guilty and Mr Justice Reed explains with well-substantiated suspicions to body of Mary Olive Hattam is found. that under South Australian criminal challenge the veracity of Stuart’s ‘con- Dr Kathleen Thompson examines the law he has no choice but capital pun- fession’ to the police. body. ishment.

HEATHER MITCHELL HEATHER 20 May 1959: Stuart gives notice of a 22 December (Monday night) 1958: Rupert motion to apply for special leave to Max Stuart (27) ‘confesses’ to the mur- appeal to the High Court. His execu- der to the police. Black trackers, Sonny tion is delayed another four weeks to Jim and Harry Scott, are brought in. 19 June.

21 January 1959: Stuart attends a pre- 18 June 1959: Mr Justice Reed grants liminary hearing of the case against Stuart a further stay until 7 July. him in a police court at Ceduna sup- ported by legal aid from Adelaide, Mr 19 June 1959: The High Court refuses J. D. O’Sullivan (a leader in the newly Stuart leave to appeal. It is clear that formed Democratic Labor Party). only public opinion and a political

LEGAL TEAM DAVID O’SULLIVAN AND HELEN DEVANEY; O’SULLIVAN TEAM DAVID LEGAL commutation of his sentence can 20 April 1959: Stuart pleads not guilty save Stuart. when his case is heard in the Supreme Court in Victoria Square, Adelaide. The 27 June 1959: Around 50 people includ- TOP-BOTTOM: TOP-BOTTOM: Crown’s case takes three days to put ing the expert and no witnesses appear for the de- Professor T. G. H. Strehlow (author of 4 fence. The court is presided over by Mr Aranda Traditions) attend a meeting to ) ) SOON REALIZES HIS ‘OPEN AND SHUT’ CASE IS ‘OPEN ) SOON REALIZES HIS JOHN GREGG the case a costly step further—to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. They gain support from the CARLYLE ROBERT Adelaide News.

17 July 1959: Stuart is baptised a

Catholic. ( O’SULLIVAN DAVID

24 July 1959: The Archbishop is con- sulted and Dixon is allowed to seek BOTTOM L-R: BOTTOM witnesses associated with the fun-fair ). begin formally the campaign to sup- now travelling in Queensland. Subse- government leave to appeal in the case

port Stuart’s fi ght for a just trial and quently, Dixon posted Devaney three of a white man, John Whelan Brown, WITH ROHAN RIVETT ( HEADLINE THE DAILY ) MULLS OVER punishment. statutory declarations made by the who was found guilty of murder but is fun-fair manager Mr Gieseman and to be given mercy on the grounds of After that gathering, the Attorney- his wife, and by Betty Hopes, who had insanity! DAVID NGOOMBUJARRA DAVID General meets with Stuart’s support- worked on a stall with Stuart at the time BEN MENDELSOHN ers—Strehlow, Dixon and the Dean of that it was indicated the murder had 30 July 1959: Reed grants Stuart a the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of taken place. further respite, to 31 August, after an Law, Professor Norval Morris—and a application from the Crown. The case is petition prepared by O’Sullivan and 28 July 1959: The Judicial Committee attracting more appeals Australia wide

signed by Stuart is received by the of the Privy Council hears O’Sullivan and agitation in Parliament to commute MURDOCH ( RUPERT Chief Secretary. However, no pardon and Stuart is given a fi fth stay, to 4 Au- Stuart’s sentence because it has not or reprieve eventuates. gust. Chamberlain is fl own to London been shown beyond reasonable doubt to defend the case against Stuart but that Stuart is guilty of the murder and 3 July 1959: By now the case is making in the event is not called to do so. The the death sentence is inappropriate. ROBERT CARLYLE; ROBERT national headlines: numerous letters Privy Council decides against Stuart’s Even Olive Hattam’s father Glen, is supporting and opposing Stuart are appeal. To infl ame matters more, the reported in the Sunday Mail as saying: printed in papers and petitions are Council grants the South Australian ‘If Stuart is not the man who murdered circulated and Dr H.V. Evatt, Federal my daughter, then I don’t want him Leader of the Opposition, is moved hanged’. In response, the Premier of to intervene. the South Australian government, Sir Thomas Playford, announces a Royal 6 July 1959: The night before he is Commission. due to be executed, Mr Justice Reed grants Stuart another stay of one fort- 31 July 1959: O’Sullivan and Devaney, night because O’Sullivan and Devaney Stuart’s lawyers, announce that they NOT AS STRAIGHT FORWARD AS ONCE THOUGHT; THOUGHT; AS ONCE AS STRAIGHT FORWARD NOT have announced their intention to take will take no further part in the Royal STARS AS FATHER TOM DIXON;BEN MENDELSOHN AND DIRECTOR, CRAIG LAHIFF; THE ACCUSED MAX STUART ( ACCUSED MAX STUART THE CRAIG LAHIFF; AND DIRECTOR, TOM DIXON;BEN MENDELSOHN AS FATHER STARS TOP L-R: 5 Commission because of the terms of confl icts with vagaries over clock-time case and the associated Royal Com- reference are too narrow and two of characteristic of Aboriginal and work- mission that to all reports is gaining the three Commissioners, including ing-class cultures. The Sydneysider, South Australian institutions disrepute its Chair, have already made decisions Shand, brought in to defend Stuart, internationally. The crisis felt in and out against Stuart. This makes the Royal withdraws disgusted with proceed- of government is indicated by a mes- Commission a farce. National support ings in the Royal Commission. The sage that features on the front page of from all kinds of organisations and Commission adjourns. a Saturday News—from a man living people continues to pour in. in Stuart’s country, who 25 August 1958: Parliament is in uproar pleads: ‘out of the wild jungle of law, 10 August 1959: Stuart receives his fi rst over the rights and wrongs of the Stuart politics, journalism, and religion, let us communion. The Royal Commission hear the almost inaudible cry of Mary sits for just one hour and then adjourns Olive Hattam’. for a week. 31 August 1959: The Royal Commission 12 August 1959: Mr D.A. Dunstan, MP resumes. (Labor), introduces a Bill to the South Australian House of Assembly to abol- September 1959: Proceedings in Parlia- ish capital punishment. Over the next ment begin with O’Halloran moving a few months it occupies eight full days motion—without notice—of no confi - of debate in the House. dence in the government. After hours of debate on the Royal Commission 17 August 1959: The Royal Commission and the Stuart case, when the House hears witnesses from the fun-fair—the divides, the government gains a major- Giesemans, Allan Moir and Betty ity of four including the support of two Hopes—and the now retired police independents. The House adjourns the offi cer Phin. Phin appears indecisive. next day for its duration. There are suspicions surrounding Stu- art’s alibi, a quasi-prostitute. There is 4 September 1959 (Friday): The Royal confusion over the charges related to Commission resumes. Witnesses are Stuart’s previous convictions involv- questioned again and again over the ing not just alcohol but misbehaviour exact events involving Stuart on the towards women. The judicial need day Mary was murdered and more 6 for precision with respect to times general questions are raised about ROBERT ROBERT

Stuart’s purported womanising and Ceduna is on the coast of South Aus- alcoholism. Stuart’s execution is de- tralia. (A student will discover it and layed again, from 30 September to 9 the other places mentioned here in STARS AS DAVID O’SULLIVAN, A DETERMINED YOUNG LAWYER WHO TAKES A A LEGAL AID WHO TAKES DETERMINED YOUNG CASE TO THE LAWYER AS O’SULLIVAN, DAVID STARS November. A member of the Victorian any Australian atlas.) Ceduna means bar, Mr. John Starke QC, is representing ‘resting place’ in Wirangu, the language Stuart now. After assuring the Commis- of those Aborigines who are identifi ed sion he will remain in this position, he The internationally renowned artist with the Nullarbor Plain. In 1958 the lit- is granted at least nineteen days to Albert Namatjira was Aranda. In 1957 tle known town of Ceduna had around prepare his case. he was singled out by the Australian 900 residents with 500 more living in government and offered special status Thevenard, about 3 kilometres along

5 October 1959: The Royal Commission as an Australian citizen. This meant that the coast. CARLYLE CHARLES DANCE; ROBERT CARLYLE CHARLES DANCE; ROBERT resumes once more. Starke calls for he could legally drink alcohol while his IS GUILTY; THINKS MAX STUART WHY HE RIGHT) EXACTLY JONES, TELLS HIS DINNER GUESTS (INCLUDING PENNE HACKFORTH RIGHT) , an adjournment till 13 October and the brothers could not. In 1958 Namatjira Today Ceduna is home to the Maralin- right to -examine witnesses in a was jailed for sharing his privileges with ga-Tjarutja Aboriginal Land Administra- ‘full and unfettered’ way. Chamberlain kin who had no equivalent rights. Later tion Offi ce. ‘Maralinga’ means thunder

waits for the ensuing discussion to in 1959, the same year that the Max in Wirangu: the British exploded atom CHARLES DANCE abate before announcing that Cabinet Stuart case made national headlines, bombs at Maralinga in 1956 and 1957. has decided that the sentence given Namatjira died. Despite his international Before the numerous nuclear experi- Stuart is to be commuted. Dunstan’s reputation he was poor and had turned ments in the area between 1953 and Private Members Bill to abolish capital to alcohol. Ironically then Namatjira’s 1963 most Aboriginal nomads were re- punishment is still before the South special treatment simply highlighted the moved to Yalta, west of Ceduna. But a Australian Parliament when the reprieve lack of rights of Aborigines. Commission of Inquiry in the mid-1980s is decided. acknowledged that the tests continued • There are many cultural and edu- to detrimentally impact on their lives,

13 October 1959: The Commission contin- cational centres and tours in and especially because the sites were still AS CROWN PROSECUTOR RODERIC CHAMBERLAIN; STARS ues to hear the Stuart case through. around Alice Springs that you can contaminated. This contamination was

browse for information about on the not addressed until 1998 because the CROWN PROSECUTOR RODERIC CHAMBERLAIN ( Ultimately the court decides that Stuart net. For instance, the Aboriginal Art Australian and British governments is guilty and he is imprisoned for the and Culture Centre — www.aborigin were fi ghting over who should pay. CHARLES DANCE next 14 years. alart.com.au; the Central Australian LEFT PAGE: Aboriginal Media Association (CAA- In Black and White the screen writer THE ARRERNTE COUNTRY MA) — www.caama.com.au; the IAD makes the character Stuart play out the AND PEOPLES Language and Cultural centre— controversial variations of his actions www.iad.edu.au/iad; the Araluen on the afternoon of the murder of Mary Max Stuart was from Central Arrernte Arts Centre — www.nt.gov.au/dam; Hattam. There is an added ‘subtext’ CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

country around Alice Springs. Today and the Visual Arts and Specialist here. What does this technique tell us close to one in every fi ve residents of Tours — www.vast.com.au. For about the identity of Aborigines as a Alice Springs is of Aboriginal descent. more information see Lonely Planet, subculture within Australian society? The Arrernte dialects are amongst Aboriginal Australia and the Torres RIGHT PAGE: the most widely spoken Aboriginal Strait Islands: Guide to Indigenous THE COMMONWEALTH; IN HIGHEST COURTS languages. In the late 1950s Arrernte Australia. people were called ‘Aranda’ and their language ‘Arunte’. 7 WHITE ATTITUDES TO BLACKS Professor A. P. Elkin calls ‘a state of in- Neither socially nor economically can IN 1958: telligent parasitism…Adaptation, which an aborigine leap from his primitive was formerly to nature…is now to the wurlie into a modern house—nor does GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND settler…based on the necessity for ad- he wish to do so. PRACTICES aptation not on a desire for civilization, nor on respect for the white man’. … the fi rst step in getting the aver- Mary Olive Hattam—the nine-year-old age aborigine housed is to overcome girl that Max Stuart was charged with According to Our Aborigines, the ‘ex- his initial positive reluctance to live in having raped and murdered—attended treme diversity’ among Aboriginal life- a house … when houses have been a nearby primary school during 1958. styles—presented as a series of stages provided for them aborigines have, at She and her brother might have had from primitive to modern or ‘detribal- fi rst, often so befouled them that they read out to them passages from a pam- ized’—complicated their ‘administra- have quickly rendered them untenable; phlet that was printed and prepared for tion and assimilation’. The pamphlet that many will, quite casually, tear off the public by Australian government admitted that the varying protective doors and literally tear down the houses authorities to commemorate National legislations of the governments with themselves to burn if they are short of Aborigines’ Day in 12 July 1957. respect to ‘native’ people, centring on fi rewood … guardianship provisions, complicated As students read the quotes (below) the meaning of Aboriginal ‘citizenship’. Our Aborigines described a history of from this publication, they will be chal- The authors suggested that some re- government ‘benevolence’ towards Ab- lenged by what is suggested about quired guardianship and, perhaps, origines and promoted the nationwide Australian government policies and should be ‘wards’. They equated the policy in the 1950s of assimilation: practices, white and black race rela- right, or not, to vote contingent on the tions, and the values and lifestyles ‘stage of advancement’ of individual … to survive and prosper, the numeri- of mainstream Australian society in Aborigines: cally small aboriginal group within the the late 1950s. The quotes from Our vastly larger white Australian group, has Aborigines indicate mainstream white It is possible that there is room for to learn to live and work and think as perceptions and treatment of Aborigi- the liberalization of the relevant laws white Australians do so that they can nes at the time of the incident. in some aspects. Whether, however, take their place in social, economic that should proceed so far that the and political equality with whites in the First, a summary in Our Aborigines of franchise is conferred automatically Australian community. The Govern- a description of Aboriginal life before upon the naked aboriginal hunter is ments see the problem primarily as a 1788: another matter; and whether the social and not a racial one. It is a prob- conferring of that privilege should be lem of enabling people to live together … These then were the aborigines in accompanied by the imposition of the on equal terms in the same society their natural state: few in numbers; ra- responsibilities which are now placed with benefi t to themselves and to each cially apart from the rest of the world; upon enfranchised non-aboriginal Aus- other, and not a problem concerning nomads; naked hunters and food-gath- tralians (e.g. a responsibility to enrol and the way in which two groups of people erers; houseless; artists in primitive vote or be prosecuted) is typical of the of different race may live in the same forms; mystical; enclosed within fi rm considerations which complicate the community while maintaining their racial and intricate social patterns; in a meas- problem further. separateness … ure stone-age men who had neverthe- less fi tted themselves to survive where The pamphlet acknowledged that … Achievement of the assimilation goal only the wild animals of the Australian Aborigines should gain equal wages requires the help of each individual Aus- bush and desert could survive besides and worker protection in unions, in tralian; of organizations aiming at social themselves. principle. However, the authors sug- betterment; of the Christian missions gested that while Aborigines were not bringing to the aborigines the means of Our Aborigines presented race relations as skilled as white Australians they fi lling the spiritual vacuum which follows through the nineteenth and early twen- could not expect equal wages and, the loss of the old beliefs. tieth centuries as a series of cultural indeed, that any: misunderstandings, to conclude: The growth in the Aboriginal population attempt to force equal rewards for them was ranked as ‘the fi rst and most tangi- The inevitable clashes inevitably meant under such circumstances would mili- ble result of the development of knowl- defeat for the native. The swift tide of tate against their own interests in that edge of the aborigines, the application settlement, however, fl owed on before they could very easily be legislated out of enlightened policies, scientifi c ap- the defeated … had time to adjust of employment. proaches, and increasing goodwill on themselves to this realization. They the part of white Australians’. were capable of such adjustment for At the same time in the ‘housing’ sec- they have survived in the marginal areas tion of the pamphlet, the authors offer Our Aborigines highlights the racist 8 of European settlement through what the opinion that: attitudes and material deprivation in- fl icted on Aborigines during the time the • What is the likely effect on incidents in Black and White took place. the audience of the order Refer to the ATSIC web site for links to of these key scenes? other sites on the history of white-black What would be the impact relations and the policy of assimilation: if these two key scenes www.atsic.gov.au had been presented in reverse? STRUCTURE AND DRAMA OF BLACK AND WHITE This way of presenting the drama allows Louis Nowra, In the fi lm Black and White signifi cant the writer of the screenplay, 1954-55, AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE JIMMY 1954-55, details of the real Stuart case are to give each of the characters ignored or dealt with cursorily. This and their perspectives depth. SHARMAN). is legitimate: screenplays need to be concise and a screenwriter must act • Are O’Sullivan’s views decisively regarding what content is overly ‘romantic’ and na- OUTDOOR SHOWMAN kept in or left out. ive? • Do you think Chamber- • The feature stars actors in all the lain’s satanic views are main character parts, including Stu- derived directly from the THE BEAT OF A TYPICAL SHOWMAN IN THE MATURE YEARS SIDESHOW ALLEY (COMPILED YEARS SIDESHOW THE MATURE TYPICAL SHOWMAN IN A OF THE BEAT art. However, we see Max Stuart Stuart case? If not, out- in person today—making a candid line their different layers ABOVE: comment regarding his case and and how you think these THE IN FROM SHOW DATES conviction—in the very last scene perspectives might have of the fi lm. How does such a scene developed. travelling side shows and Aboriginal impact on the audience? tent boxers highlights the cultural and • In what genre would you classify this CULTURAL AND SOCIAL social context of the story told in Black fi lm? ISSUES: SIDE SHOWS AND and White. • What other genres might have been TENT BOXERS used to present the same mate- (see map, from Richard Broome’s book rial? Many of the scenes in Black and White outlining the typical route a side show trav- • How would those alternative styles are set in courts, police stations and elling in the mid-1950s might take round affect the construction of the sto- lawyers offi cers and jail cells. But Max the eastern states through the year) ry? Stuart was working for Norman Giese- • How would the constraints and man in a ‘fun-fair’ called Funland Carni- Australian historian Richard Broome— potential of adopting a different val when Mary was murdered. This was helped by the late Alick Jackamos—has genre have altered the themes casual work in what seems a seedy if written an entertaining history of the rise highlighted? entertaining environment. However, in of travelling side-shows in eastern Aus- one jail scene, the screenwriter Louis tralia that follows their decline round The structure of Black and White rotates Nowra has Stuart confi ding in glorious the 1950s and 1960s. Broome points round two key scenes and characters terms of being a tent boxer in Jimmy to Jimmy Sharman as one of the most that are ideal for analysis from a series Sharman’s outfit—remember the prominent managers of troupes of angles. The key scenes involve the Midnight Oil song ‘Jimmy Sharman’s and includes many photos of him and elaboration of the personalities of the Boxers’? his outfi ts in Sideshow Alley (1998). It modest O’Sullivan and the arrogant is estimated that at least half of the Chamberlain, who represent ‘white’ and • Take another look at this scene and travelling tent boxing troupes were ‘black’ views respectively. Interestingly analyse its signifi cance within the Aboriginal men. Max Stuart is said to it is Stuart and the other characters who context of the feature fi lm. What have travelled as far as Thursday Island offer all the shades of grey. does this scene address specifi - with Sharman’s show. cally? • Analyse the scene where O’Sullivan In Broome’s interpretation tent boxing argues that the police have forced a People working in the travelling side- offered Aboriginal males unusual op- confession out of Stuart through use shows had a migratory life, like gyp- portunities for personal and political of violence in their interrogation. sies, and—as testifi ed in Side Show development, adventure and a taste of • Analyse the scene in Chamberlain’s Alley—a history all of their own. The social equality. Indeed many Aboriginal home towards the end of the fi lm theatre they expressed revealed as men who later became social activists, where he presents to his wife and well as inverted many aspects of cul- politicians and famous in other ways friends his interpretation that makes tural relations shown in the fi lm Black had done a stint as tent boxers. Pas- Stuart guilty. and White. The history of Australia’s tor Doug Nicholls, who later became 9 Governor of South Australia, is one appear drunk most of the time: power altered since then? example. • How are we learning more about • Was it ever raised in the case that Aboriginal spirituality? For a per- • Consider what Stuart says in the key Max Stuart might have suffered from sonal introduction to Aboriginal scene just referred to—‘I never losed a boxing injury? spirituality today, see There Once a fi ght … Always got the girls’—in Was a Tree Called Deru by the the context of the interpretation of Note for teachers: The ABC produced master story-teller and poet Kakkib Aboriginal tent boxing presented and screened a half-hour documen- li’Dthia Warrawee’a. by Broome (1998: pp. 106, 180, tary on Aboriginal tent boxers (1999) 183–4): and Broome’s book includes much THE ROLE AND INFLUENCE OF more detail and references to other THE MEDIA Boxing is a dramatic sport. Sharman sources. and other tent operators made it In 1959 print and radio dominated even more so by the opponents they THE ROLE AND INFLUENCE OF Australian media. The main Adelaide matched—local versus troupe boxer, THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH papers were the Advertiser and the Australian versus overseas boxer, black News and their co-operative effort versus white, and ex-champion versus • Identify the various infl uences of the the Sunday Mail. Major differences an unknown. Catholic church in the Stuart case, between the two papers in reporting as indicated scene by scene in Black the Stuart case developed once the The matching of white with black, in the and White. News supported taking the case to context of the prevailing racial stere- • How are the legal and Christian the Privy Council in London and Dixon otypes, was the encounter between structures interrelated? How are journeyed to Queensland to fi nd the dominant and subordinant, coloniser these relations expressed in the fun-fare witnesses. with colonised, ‘civilised’ with ‘sav- legal speak, protocol and body age’. The emotions released by these language of the various characters The editor-in-chief of was opposites led to dramatic encounters in Black and White? Rohan Deakin Rivett, who was a cos- in the tents. mopolitan liberal and conspicuously not Many of the church fi gures involved with a member of the prestigious Adelaide The boxing tent was a place of rare the Stuart campaign had spent time on Club. The man who owned the News dominance for Aboriginal men who Aboriginal reserves, as missionaries. was Rupert Murdoch, who had inher- were members of the most disadvan- Mission and reserve life for Aborigines ited the paper from his father Sir Keith taged social group of their time, control- earlier in the twentieth century has been Murdoch (Herald and Weekly Times led by legislation, and subjected daily highlighted in another feature released Ltd) and went on to become a world to the sting of rejection. On the line-up to wide acclaim during 2002, Rabbit media mogul. board they were someone. As they sur- Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce). veyed the crowd on the pitch below, The role of the media in the Stuart the tent boss spruiked their daily skills, • See the Study Guide for Rabbit case can be analysed from many their past record, their power. It was Proof Fence produced by ATOM angles—economic, social, political an act, but performances help shape for more information. A class might and cultural—and introduces themes reality … The fi ghts in the tents, some compare and contrast the similar including religion and class. The best of which were ‘fair dinkum’, increased and different issues raised in the two place for more advanced students to their sense of self-esteem. If they won, fi lms, Black and White and Rabbit start a detailed analysis of the issues, and won over an antagonistic white, the Proof Fence which are both based say surrounding Rivett and Murdoch, is taste of victory was very sweet. on true stories. by referring to The Stuart Case by K.S. • How did Christian values and the Inglis. There is a whole chapter devoted • When Stuart, the ex-boxer, was organised church impact on politics to the nine charges made against Rivett confronted with an overwhelming in the late 1950s? For more infor- and the further nine charges against his number of white authorities in police mation about these matters, for in- company that involved seditious and stations, law courts and jails, how stance about O’Sullivan’s leadership defamatory libels and so on. might he have felt? in the Democratic Labor Party—the • What language and metaphors then newly formed splinter breaka- • Students might consider the ethics would he call on from boxing to way from the Australian Labor of journalism with respect to key as- interpret his jail and court reality? Party—see Inglis (2002 edn). pects of presentation. For instance, • The wide-ranging infl uence of Chris- by discussing just two headlines: Boxing has become less popular and tian values and church organisation ‘Hang Stuart Cries Angry Town’ more regulated during the second half on the lives of Aboriginal peoples (Sunday Mirror) of the twentieth century. This is partly is clear from publications from that ‘Punish Only Guilty Man, says Father due to injuries suffered by boxers who period, for example Our Aborigines ‘(Sunday Mail) 10 ended up ‘punchy’, which made them (1957). How has this kind of religious (see cartoon, right, as reprinted in Ingles (2002: 85)

• This cartoonist makes an interesting visual metaphor in his images of the Royal Commission judges. Examine the inferences made.

A few months before the world pre- miere of Black and White in mid-2002, for the fi rst time in 29 years, three black Americans were nominated for best actor Oscars. CBS (24 March 2002) reported that in the last sixty years there have been only 39 nominations for black actors out of a total of 1369! Sidney Poitier had become the fi rst 31 1959. JULY ADELAIDE, NEWS, black male actor to win an Oscar in RIGHT: RIGHT: 1963 and it took until 2002 for Halle Berry to be the fi rst black woman to win the award! Consider these facts with reference to a statement by David Ngoombujarra (quoted from the Black and White Media Information Kit), the Aboriginal actor who plays Max Stu- art: ‘playing the role was my chance to show all the injustice that has been handed down to my people on so many occasions’.

Consider the vastly differing accounts ing Stuart’s arrest, interrogation and charged with murdering her baby and feelings about the Stuart case: trial within the historical and social Azaria. A feature fi lm called Evil An- context of the treatment of Indigenous gels (Fred Schepisi) was based on • A policemen involved in the Max peoples in the late 1950s in Australia this true story too. The director had Stuart case, Detective-Sergeant (drawing on background material the story adapted from John Brys- Phin, was quoted in the provided above) to discuss questions on’s award-winning book and asked Times (1960) as recollecting: ‘When raised by Black and White, such as Meryl Streep to play the role of the I was told … that a little child’s body those that follow: embattled Lindy Chamberlain. had been found foully murdered, • The documentary Thompson of and that the head had been bat- • How can we best defi ne and pro- Arnhemland (John Moore, 2000) tered in … I did not for a moment tect universal human rights? Refer raises similar issues to Black and consider that outrage as the work of to a document like the Earth Charter White with respect to attitudes to a white man. I immediately thought 2002. Aboriginal culture and government it was the work of a darky’. • Analyse the following spare policies and practices of assimila- • Alternatively Ingles (2002: 56) dialogue—highly charged with tion. records that Professor Strehlow had philosophical and legal and po- • How do you ensure unity at the suggested during 1959 that ‘raping litical subtext—in the context in the same time as preserving diversity small girls was, in his experience, screenplay: in a community? exclusively a white man’s crime’. STUART: Some bloke lucky. • How do you provide a fair system • The Advertiser (Adelaide, 18 Decem- DIXON: What do you mean? of justice for people with different ber 2001) quoted Stuart at 71 years STUART: Bloke who done this. values? How can all Australians get of age: ‘I won’t forget it [the injustice • Consider other controversial Aus- ‘a fair go’? of the case] on my death bed; I was tralian legal cases that have high- • What universal principles of citi- and still am a man fi lled with hate’. lighted spurious police and legal zenship do you think must be high- procedures as well as the confusion lighted in legal structures? POLITICAL AND that can be created by misinforma- • What principles and values do you PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES tion in sensational and prejudicial think are paramount? media coverage, for instance the • Outline what ‘evidence’ you think Consider the particular incident involv- case of Lindy Chamberlain’s being was, or might have been, crucial in 11 this case given the processes extant courts are more vigilant to the dangers of Again refer to the ATSIC website then. injustice that the actors and fi lm-makers (www.atsic.gov.au) for links to other • In sharing fair and equitable proc- have portrayed. websites with information about legal esses of law applicable to all citi- matters and Aborigines. zens, what evidence do you think My proposition is that every Australian should be allowed, given priority or judicial offi cer should see this fi lm. It is a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND dismissed as irrelevant? reminder to us of the dangers of formalism FURTHER READING GUIDE: • With reference to the example of and blindness to prejudice that can be in- the Stuart case, defi ne and design herent in our work unless we are on guard. Information in this Study Guide is de- appropriate political principles, poli- Although there have been great improve- rived mainly from: cies and practices for the protection ments in the courts of our country since of universal human rights. the proceedings portrayed in Black and ‘Black and White’, 24 March, CBS • What is ‘trust’ and ‘distrust’? White, we the judicial offi cers of Australia report, Hollywood, 2002. Describe some of the many dif- today should watch the fi lm to reinforce our ferent senses of trust and distrust commitment to the avoidance of errors of Black and White Media Information indicated in Black and White in the the kind that the fi lm chronicles. Kit, NewVision Film Distributors, context of key social structures and Melbourne/Sydney 2002. institutions. Kirby asks what all students might be asked: ‘Have we, in the Australian ju- Richard Broome, with Alick Jackamos, LEGAL ISSUES diciary, made progress since the Stuart , Sideshow Alley, Allen and Unwin, Syd- case?’ ney, 1998. The legal issues raised in the Stuart case include questions like: Kirby’s reply is lengthy and starts by Michael Duffy, ‘Stuart case revisited’ pointing tout that the High Court: ‘has Advertiser, Adelaide (18 December • What are culturally appropriate set- continued to set its face against the 2001, pp. 1, 8. tings and processes for investigat- reception of fresh evidence, in the ing an Indigenous suspect? disposition of appeals before it’. He K.S. Inglis, The Stuart Case, Black Inc. • What are culturally appropriate argues that prisoners suffer treatment Books, Melbourne, 2002 edn. processes for a trial? today comparable to the one Aborigi- • Identify socially just principles and nes faced in the late 1950s. But Kirby Kakkib li’Dthia Warrawee’a, There Once human rights that must be protected elaborates on certain change, for in- Was a Tree Called Deru, Thorsons, Syd- in law. stance the greater likelihood of a retrial ney, 2002. • What are culturally appropriate le- especially when an Indigenous person gal practices regarding Indigenous is involved. But he highlights the main Hon Justice , ‘Black and clients? theme—justice: White Lessons for the Australian Judici- • How has the legal system changed ary’, transcript of a speech delivered 29 in Australia over the last forty years The fundamental lesson that judges and July to the Local Court of New South to refl ect greater sympathy for In- magistrates should draw from watching Wales Annual Conference, Coogee digenous clients and rights? Black and White is that formalism is not (Sydney), 2002. enough. A devotion to justice is imperative. The following are excerpts from a It needs to be hard-nosed and practical. Lonely Planet, Aboriginal Australia and transcript of a speech—‘Black and It needs to be renewed day by busy day. the Torres Strait Islands: Guide to Indig- White Lessons for the Australian Judi- We who are part of the organs of state enous Australia, Melbourne, 2001. ciary’—delivered by the Hon. Justice must be on our guard lest we ever lose Michael Kirby to the Local Court of entirely our empathy and understanding for Minister for Territories, Our Aborigines, Annual Conference, the accused who come before the courts. Commonwealth Government Printer, Coogee (Sydney) 29 July 2002: Lest we think that all accused must be , 1957. guilty because otherwise they would not I watched Black and White at its world pre- be charged. Lest we assume that accused This study guide was produced by ATOM. miere held on the night of the 49th Sydney down-and-outs are guilty because, like For more information about ATOM study fi lm festival. The director Craig Lahiff and Max Stuart, they have a black face or be- guides or The Speakers’ Bureau visit our the producers Helen Leake and Nik Powell long to some other minority whom we do web site: www.metromagazine.com.au were there to take their bows. The fi lm is not really know, understand or care for. or email: [email protected] of special interest to a judicial offi cer and a lawyer because it tells the story of the Hon. Justice Michael Kirby, ‘Black and Stuart affair. To other citizens, the fi lm is White Lessons for the Australian Judi- important because it illustrates ciary’, transcript of a speech delivered we have travelled in the supervening years. to the Local Court of New South Wales All of us, judges, magistrates, lawyers and Annual Conference, Coogee (Sydney) 12 other citizens, should come away from the 29 July 2002. fi lm with a determination to ensure that our