Atkinson, Judy --- "Book Review -- Aboriginal Women and Violence" [1992] AboriginalLawB 7; (1992) 1(54) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 15

• Book Review – Aboriginal Women And Violence

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Book Review –

Aboriginal Women and Violence

by Audrey Bolger

Australian National University, North Australian Research Unit,

Darwin, 1991. 101 pp.

Reviewed by Judy Atkinson

Audrey Bolger's Aboriginal Women and Violence is the result of research undertaken for the Northern Territory Commissioner of Police and the Criminology Research Council. It is a study of Aboriginal women living in a variety of places: urban, town camp and rural/remote communities in the NT. Two Aboriginal research assistants, Raeline Cummins and Pat Dodds, helped with the first stages of the research and in the field.

Ms Bolger claims this research is no more than exploratory, due to time constraints and lack of human resources. Her report however, presents vital information and analysis of the situation and needs of Aboriginal women subjected to violence in the NT. She asserts: "Aboriginal people are considerably safer in Northern Territory gaols than they are in their own communities", which is not to suggest that NT gaols are O.K, but rather that something is wrong in Aboriginal communities. (p24)

While the Interim Report (1988) of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) shows three Aboriginal men died in custody in the NT during 1987 and 1988, the NT Police Department crime reports show 39 Aboriginal people died due to homicide over the same period, 17 of whom were women. The RCIADIC investigated only one side of the tragic story - custodial deaths of (generally) young Aboriginal men. The money made available to the RCIADIC must be compared with the minuscule amounts made available by governments to investigate and respond to the needs of women and children subjected to violence.

With limited resources, Ms Bolger presents a powerful document and provides a voice for our women s anguish:

"The first time he hit me, I didn't care for myself. I didn't put on a clean dress, or comb my hair because my husband was treating me badly, because I'm not a person to be treated like that"

In spite of the mythology, Aboriginal women never were people to be treated like that. This mythology, which becomes selffulfilling, survives at all levels of government and society and is ratified in the courts.

The legal system has been, and still is, a major factor in the oppression of Aboriginal women. It repeatedly sends out messages that it is acceptable to bash and rape. Ms Bolger cites examples from the NT Supreme Court to illustrate her point that;

"reading many court transcripts relating to cases of rape, murder and assaults on women is like reading the minutes of a male club." (p.81)

This problem is not isolated to the NT, as can be shown by comparing the following example from Ms Bolger's report to recent sentencing remarks in the South Australian Supreme Court.

In R v Burt Lane, Ronald Hunt and Reggie Hunt (29 May 7980, unreported) in the NT Supreme Court - a case where a young Aboriginal woman died of rape injuries - white, male lawyers presented, as part of a defence, evidence [sic] supposedly supporting the fiction that 'rape was not a serious crime in Aboriginal society.' One witness admitted he had never heard Aboriginal people talk about rape, yet this did not preclude him from voicing his opinion. Male judicial bias was evident in that the testimony of a female anthropologist - who had spent considerable time with Aboriginal women - was ignored by the judge. She testified that "rape was serious, an assault on a woman's sexual character, and that traditionally women punished men severely for such behaviour." Gallop J., responded to the ground-swell of white male opinion and his own prejudice by summarising in a manner almost identical to sentencing remarks of a case heard over ten years later in the SA Supreme Court (p.81).

R v Mingkilli, Martin and Mintuma (20 March 1991), was a case concerning Police Aides and a police warden who raped a woman they held in custody. Sergeant Berry, giving evidence on their behalf, said there was no crime of rape known in the offenders' community. Millhouse J., repeated this - as if it was fact - in his sentencing remarks and continued:

"Forcing women to have sexual intercourse is not socially acceptable, but it is not regarded with the seriousness that it is by the white people."

Audrey Bolger points out that most police officers confidence in the adequacy of their knowledge of Aboriginal people, particularly women, is belied by their attitudes and actions. (p.79)

Millhouse J., appears to see no contradiction between Sergeant Berry's evidence, that the offender was a 'good Police Aide', and further evidence that he was 'moderately drunk' while on duty - he had been drinking at a police barbecue, consuming more than enough to be over the limit. While (moderately!) drunk on duty, he and his companions were holding the victim in the police vehicle where the offence took place. The victim, who complained bitterly of her treatment, was being held in custody because she was drunk!

Audrey Bolger says her story is about the situation where a person - usually a man - uses his power, including his superior strength, to force another person - usually a woman - to comply with his wishes and to punish her if she refuses. She believes "the situation is so serious that immediate action is needed by the public sector and Aboriginal people." I too believe the issue of criminal assault on Aboriginal women and children is one of the most critical issues we are currently facing. Not only are our women being assaulted, men are going to gaol and children are repeating the cycle of abuse. Aboriginal women, and some men, are concerned and are searching for solutions.

This is not a women's problem however, nor a private family or Aboriginal community matter. What is happening today, in the NT and elsewhere, is an extension of the subordination and control of Aborigines within a system, historically and socially constructed and dominated by white males. The judges, lawyers and police in that system, function in ways that shape and control the structures of our society. This system has impacted brutally and oppressively on Australia's First Nation Peoples; restructuring, reshaping and controlling their social interactions so that they now reflect the attitudes, laws and traditions of the dominant society.

I would suggest the next research agenda item to be commissioned by Police Commissioners or others, should be a study of the attitudes and behaviours of those who function in what is often called the 'white male system' - the police, lawyers and judges who determine what is or is not violence towards women. While we wait for this to happen, Aboriginal Women and Violence, deserves reading for the insight it provides into what the system produces.