GSC2802

Traditional Koorie and British law

Lyn Holten

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* First semester
* Gippsland
* Prerequisites: Passes in 75% of first-year subjects

Objectives Students successfully completing this unit will be able to carry out simple conversational and analytic skills in the Bundjalung language and will develop the skills required for phonetic translation of unknown words in other languages. Students will also discover what is known about other languages in the Gippsland area and will have developed an understanding of how language shapes our thinking.

Synopsis The subject commences with an overview of the working of law in Koorie culture prior to the arrival of the white settlers. The incompatibility of the two systems of law is stressed and particular attention is focused upon the manner in which British law was utilised to speed the decimation of the tribes. The effects of British justice upon Koories is studied from two perspectives: the use of legislation to control the lives of Koories by proscribing their places of residence or removing children from their families, and the inequities in the application of British justice. In the latter case, emphasis is placed upon the legitimisation of sexual violence against Koorie women and the manner in which officials condoned punitive expeditions, such as the 1928 Coniston massacre. The study of contemporary issues concerning Koories and the law includes an examination of the disproportionately high number of Koories in custody. The implications of this failing in the system are emphasised through the study of deaths in custody. The subject concludes with an examination of the ramifications of a treaty being framed between Koories and the Australian Government and the struggle to have the British system of justice recognise the validity of customary Koorie law.

Assessment Essay (1500 words): 30%
* Research papers (2500 words): 30%
* Examination (2 hours): 40%

Prescribed texts

Cunneen C and Liberman T Indigenous people of law in Australia Butterworths, 1995