WEBVTT - Landscape of Disappearance

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<v Speaker 1>This is Curtain, a podcast where we expose the disappearances

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<v Speaker 1>of Aboriginal people across this country, shining a light on

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<v Speaker 1>the darkest parts of our justice system.

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<v Speaker 2>We ask who are the victims? I am Aiming.

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<v Speaker 3>McGuire and I'm Martin Hodgson, Senior advocate at the Foreign

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<v Speaker 3>Prisoner Support Service. And a warning, this series contains the

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<v Speaker 3>names of deceased people and includes distressing content that may

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<v Speaker 3>upset some listeners. Welcome to episode two of season two

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<v Speaker 3>of Curtin the podcast. To begin this week, Amy's going

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<v Speaker 3>to tell a story and like a lot of the

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<v Speaker 3>breakthroughs we've had in both Kevin's case and understanding this

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<v Speaker 3>issue more broadly, Amy's mind was sparked by a conversation

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<v Speaker 3>with her father, Sterling maguire, who you've heard before in

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<v Speaker 3>an interview on this podcast and a number of years ago.

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<v Speaker 3>Sterling mentioned to name Amy, can you tell us what

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<v Speaker 3>your dad said and where that led? Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>And I think from listeners of our podcast, we know

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<v Speaker 1>that a lot of the stories I've been working on,

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<v Speaker 1>particularly coming from Rock Campden, including Kevin Henry and Annie Queeney,

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<v Speaker 1>who would talk about later in this podcast, and we

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<v Speaker 1>have talked about previously actually came from conversations that my

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<v Speaker 1>dad had with me, and so a number of years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>I think I was only about eighteen, I was working

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<v Speaker 1>down in Canberra. Dad actually called and told me about

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<v Speaker 1>a man in Rock Campden and he was well known

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<v Speaker 1>around the community because he was involved in the local

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<v Speaker 1>soccer scene. Like my dad had actually been involved in

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<v Speaker 1>the killing of a woman over in his home country

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<v Speaker 1>of Canada, and that was obviously very shocking to me.

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<v Speaker 1>So today I want to just recount a brief story

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<v Speaker 1>because I think it connects a lot of things with

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<v Speaker 1>what happens in relation to the murders and disappearances of

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<v Speaker 1>Aboriginal women over in Canada and America. To hear on

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<v Speaker 1>our own traditional homelands. This story is about a woman

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<v Speaker 1>named Pamela George. Pamela George was a solte woman from

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<v Speaker 1>the Sakame Reserve, one hundred and forty kilometers from Regina

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<v Speaker 1>in the province of Saskatchewan in western Canada. Pamela had

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<v Speaker 1>three children who were only young when she was killed

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<v Speaker 1>in April nineteen ninety five.

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<v Speaker 2>She had a five year.

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<v Speaker 1>Old and a ten year old and a two year

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<v Speaker 1>old baby who had passed. She was remembered by her

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<v Speaker 1>sister Denise as a person who respected her elders and

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<v Speaker 1>she never harmed anyone. But her life was tragically taken

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<v Speaker 1>by two white men who each received six and a

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<v Speaker 1>half year sentences and were paroled within two years. They

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<v Speaker 1>were not sentenced for murder, but for manslaughter. Their names

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<v Speaker 1>were Alex Tanowski and Steve Cummerfield. The lenient sentence sparked

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<v Speaker 1>outrage from Indigenous people across Canada, and it was fueled

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<v Speaker 1>by the judge's instructions to the jury at trial that

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<v Speaker 1>they should include the fact Pamela George was working as

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<v Speaker 1>a sex worker at the time in their deliberations. The

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<v Speaker 1>defense had argued that quote, since both men were highly intoxicated,

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<v Speaker 1>they bore administ responsibility for the beating, and it was

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<v Speaker 1>a horneous murder. The boys did quote pretty darn stupid things,

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<v Speaker 1>and quote the judge said, but they did not commit murder. Regina,

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<v Speaker 1>where Pamela George was from, and my hometown of Rockampden

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<v Speaker 1>are an ocean apart. And yet Pamela George's murder and

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<v Speaker 1>the callous treatment of her, her family, and her community

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<v Speaker 1>by the Canadian justice system had too many similarities with

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<v Speaker 1>stories we will speak about on this podcast, including the

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<v Speaker 1>story of Annie Quinny Hart and Linda, who were both

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<v Speaker 1>murdered on my traditional d Rumble homelands by the River Tunabal.

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<v Speaker 2>But there was another similarity.

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<v Speaker 1>As I said previously, I had not heard of Pamela

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<v Speaker 1>George until two thousand and seven when my father rang

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<v Speaker 1>me that day. I did not know her name, and

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<v Speaker 1>I would not know her name until years later when

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<v Speaker 1>I started doing a PhD into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

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<v Speaker 2>But one day Dad.

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<v Speaker 1>Told me that there was a journalist at our local

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<v Speaker 1>newspaper who had been convicted of killing an Aboriginal woman

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<v Speaker 1>in his hometown in Canada. Dad knew only the briefest

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<v Speaker 1>of details. That journalist, who was also an editor at

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<v Speaker 1>the Morning Bulletin, was named alex Toanouski. Alex Toanoutski, who

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<v Speaker 1>had murdered Pamela George and only served two years and

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<v Speaker 1>had even bragged about it to his friends before he

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<v Speaker 1>was convicted, had ended up employed by my local newspaper

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of kilometers away on my own traditional homelands, the

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<v Speaker 1>place where Annie Queeny Hart died, the place where Linda died.

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<v Speaker 1>The place where so many d rumble people were massacred.

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<v Speaker 1>Now did the Morning Bulletin know? By two thousand and

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<v Speaker 1>seven it definitely did. It published an article based on

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<v Speaker 1>court proceedings about Tanoutski. It said, alex To and alcohol

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<v Speaker 1>don't mix. Yesterday, the thirty year old paid for his

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<v Speaker 1>latest slip up, driving a red moped along Rock Campden's

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<v Speaker 1>William Street at eleven thirty pm on New Year's Eve

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<v Speaker 1>while almost five times the legal limit. Tanotski had a

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<v Speaker 1>checkered past of alcohol field indiscretions, and in the fifth

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<v Speaker 1>paragraph The Morning Bulletin wrote only one sentence. Tanotski was

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<v Speaker 1>sentenced to six years in jail in Canada after he

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<v Speaker 1>and another man bashed a prostitute to death in nine

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<v Speaker 1>ninety five. Those were the only details about Pamela George.

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<v Speaker 1>She had been reduced just to a prostitute, and her

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<v Speaker 1>savage killing had been deemed the result of only an

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<v Speaker 1>alcohol fuel slip up. Martin, You've just heard me describe

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<v Speaker 1>this unbelievable connection between Regina and rock Hampton. What do

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<v Speaker 1>you take from that?

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<v Speaker 3>It's so shocking to me still, although I shouldn't be

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<v Speaker 3>surprised the language used to humanize a woman, an Indigenous

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<v Speaker 3>women who's been the victim of a horrific crime, and

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<v Speaker 3>find ways to excuse the white murderer. And then there's

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<v Speaker 3>just something about him coming to Rockhampton of all places,

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<v Speaker 3>and being involved in the media, because so much of

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<v Speaker 3>what we hear about what happens comes through these media channels,

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<v Speaker 3>and so much of what is wrong about what's said

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<v Speaker 3>about the victim and the perpetrator doesn't necessarily come from

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<v Speaker 3>just police and magistrates and prosecutors, but from journalists and

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<v Speaker 3>editors themselves. And so for him to find himself in

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<v Speaker 3>that position in a town on the other side of

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<v Speaker 3>the world that's also known for that horrific colonial violence,

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<v Speaker 3>it boggles the mind. But it just shows how close

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<v Speaker 3>those links really are.

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<v Speaker 1>And Martin, I think the other thing that really stood

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<v Speaker 1>out to me was the fact that that, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I grew up reading the Morning Bulletin, but I know

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<v Speaker 1>that when I went back into the Morning Bulletin archives

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<v Speaker 1>and I read how they spoke of Annie Quinni particular

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<v Speaker 1>they called her things like dark and colored, and also

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<v Speaker 1>the way they talked about Linda as if she was

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<v Speaker 1>nothing or she was just totally erased from their coverage.

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<v Speaker 2>I think the other thing that.

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<v Speaker 1>Really shocks me is just it connects the complicity of

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<v Speaker 1>media in ways that I don't fully understand even now.

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<v Speaker 2>You know what I mean. How a white.

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<v Speaker 1>Men from Canada can come over here and be given

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<v Speaker 1>some sense of innocence and have his really colonial violent

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<v Speaker 1>crimes downgraded to such an extent, and the newspaper seems

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<v Speaker 1>to have washed its hands of any accountability in the

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<v Speaker 1>elevation of him to not just a journalist, but to

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<v Speaker 1>an editor.

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<v Speaker 3>I think it shows why it's important to interrogate every

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<v Speaker 3>aspect of violence against Indigenous women and children. When Amy

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<v Speaker 3>first told me she was embarking on a thesis and

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<v Speaker 3>looking at the media's role in the reporting of the

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<v Speaker 3>deaths of murdered and disappeared Aboriginal women and children, I

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<v Speaker 3>must admit I thought to myself, there's much bigger issues

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<v Speaker 3>here around this case. And this was quite a few

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<v Speaker 3>years ago, and now as the years have gone by,

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<v Speaker 3>I've come to understand why the work Amy's doing is

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<v Speaker 3>so important, and it's part of why it's important to

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<v Speaker 3>get out of our own silos, whether they be in journalism,

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<v Speaker 3>the law, education, all these other areas. Where they're actually

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<v Speaker 3>all linked and it too easily can be simplified when

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<v Speaker 3>in fact it's a much bigger story.

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<v Speaker 1>And just picking up from that, Martyn, I mean I

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<v Speaker 1>started looking into well, first it started with interrogating media

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<v Speaker 1>representations of violence against Aboriginal women. But then I realized

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<v Speaker 1>there was this enduring crisis around murdered and disappeared Aboriginal

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<v Speaker 1>women in our homelands. And that has come from working

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<v Speaker 1>on cases with you and from talking to so many

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<v Speaker 1>other families, but it also comes from acknowledging that over

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<v Speaker 1>in Canada, in particular where Pamela George was from, there

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<v Speaker 1>has been a long movement to make these deaths visible.

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<v Speaker 2>And Pamela George is really one of the most.

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<v Speaker 1>Landmark or most highly publicized cases because of the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that these two men, Alex Tnnounced and Steve Cummerfield, were

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<v Speaker 1>led off so leniently, and because of the way Pamela

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<v Speaker 1>was so dehumanized in the media.

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<v Speaker 2>But over the course of those years.

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<v Speaker 1>Where Aboriginal women and families were fighting to make these

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<v Speaker 1>deaths visible, it culminated in a watershed inquiry that was

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<v Speaker 1>handed down in twenty nineteen, which became the Missing e

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<v Speaker 1>Murdered Indigenous Women's and Girls Inquiry in Canada not just

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<v Speaker 1>looking at women and girls, but also trans and non

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<v Speaker 1>binary people who have been killed and two Spirit people,

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<v Speaker 1>which they call in Canada. And we do have a

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<v Speaker 1>national inquiry over here currently undergoing in the Senate, but

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<v Speaker 1>it is a far cry from the inquiry in Canada,

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<v Speaker 1>which spoke to thousands of families and advocates and experts

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<v Speaker 1>as it was doing its inquiry.

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<v Speaker 2>But even four years after the.

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<v Speaker 1>Missing and Murder Indigenous Women's and Girls Inquiry in Canada,

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<v Speaker 1>Aboriginal women are very concerned that there has been little movement.

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<v Speaker 1>So the inquiry actually delivered two hundred and thirty one

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<v Speaker 1>calls for justice after it had been completed.

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<v Speaker 2>Just some of these calls, I mean, it goes through

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<v Speaker 2>a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>Of the underlaying issues that lead to violence against Aboriginal women.

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<v Speaker 1>But it also included some really important calls like, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>standardization of protocols for policies and practices that ensure all

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<v Speaker 1>cases of missing, a murdered Indigenous women's girls, and two

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<v Speaker 1>Spirit people are thoroughly investigated. Then they also called for

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<v Speaker 1>the establishment of an independent Special Investigation Unit for the

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<v Speaker 1>investigation of incidents of values to investigate police misconduct in

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<v Speaker 1>all forms of discriminatory practices and mistreatment of Indigenous people

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<v Speaker 1>within the POLICEIRSE, and critically it called for the establishment

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<v Speaker 1>of a national task Force to review and, if required,

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<v Speaker 1>to reinvestigate each case of all unresolved files of missing

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<v Speaker 1>a murdered Indigenous women's and girls and trans and two

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<v Speaker 1>spirit peoples across Canada, and also produce all unresolved cases

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<v Speaker 1>of missing or murdered Indigenous women to the National Task Force.

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<v Speaker 1>And I pulled out just some of those recommendations from

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<v Speaker 1>the two hundred and thirty one calls for Justice because

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<v Speaker 1>I feel like that would be what we need over here.

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<v Speaker 1>But even then, an investigation by the Canadian broadcaster CBC

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<v Speaker 1>found this year that only two of the two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and thirty one calls of the inquiry have been completed

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<v Speaker 1>and only half have even been started, So about one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred of those calls haven't even been looked at. And

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<v Speaker 1>so it really shows that even when you have this

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<v Speaker 1>extensive inquiry, the follow three is just not there. And

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<v Speaker 1>I think that cautions us over in our own country

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<v Speaker 1>about the limitations of public inquiries as well, so that

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<v Speaker 1>there was an inquiry in Canada and there's an inquiry

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<v Speaker 1>going on in Australia. We've shown a little bit about

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<v Speaker 1>the similarities between the cases of Pamela George and the

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<v Speaker 1>cases that we've also talked about on this podcast. There's

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<v Speaker 1>the reason why we have this issue around the deliberate

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<v Speaker 1>targeting of Aboriginal women, not just in Canada but over here.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think it goes to our shared histories as

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<v Speaker 1>Aboriginal people who have been victims of settler colonial societies. Martin,

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<v Speaker 1>how do you see this and the links between Canada

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<v Speaker 1>and Australia.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think it's important that the story of murdered

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<v Speaker 3>and forcibly disappeared Aboriginal women is not just told, but

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<v Speaker 3>told from the start. Unfortunately, the inquiry that we're seeing

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<v Speaker 3>play out at the moment in Australia is telling the

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<v Speaker 3>tale of individual cases, individual pages.

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<v Speaker 2>But this is an.

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<v Speaker 3>Anthology of colonial violence deeply rooted in the dehumanizing and

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<v Speaker 3>barbaric treatment of Aboriginal women, where sexual violence was simply

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<v Speaker 3>normal for settlers. In historian Henry Reynolds's book With the

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<v Speaker 3>White People, he says, and I quote on pastoral stations

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<v Speaker 3>Aboriginal women were preyed on by any and every white

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<v Speaker 3>man whose women was to have a piece of black velvet,

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<v Speaker 3>as they called it, wherever and whenever they pleased. He

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<v Speaker 3>goes on to say, on many stations there was no

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<v Speaker 3>attempt to hide the extent of sexual relations between white

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<v Speaker 3>station workers and black women. And when he says sexual relations,

0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.680
<v Speaker 3>I think what he should say is rape and sexual slavery.

0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:35.000
<v Speaker 3>The book further tells us a pastoralist from the edge

0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.360
<v Speaker 3>of the Nullibor plane told a South Australian Royal Commission

0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:42.240
<v Speaker 3>in eighteen ninety nine that he'd known stations where and

0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.560
<v Speaker 3>I quote, every hand on the place had a gin.

0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.360
<v Speaker 3>That's a derogatory term for an Aboriginal woman, even down

0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:53.800
<v Speaker 3>to boys of eighteen years of age. Just six years later,

0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.280
<v Speaker 3>when there was debate in West Australia that led to

0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.520
<v Speaker 3>the establishment of the aborigin his Act of nine five,

0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.280
<v Speaker 3>it was noted in Parliament that at Vitriol River stations,

0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.200
<v Speaker 3>a witness observed that on many stations and I quote,

0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.480
<v Speaker 3>there are no white women at all. Only these Aboriginal

0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.880
<v Speaker 3>women are usually at the mercy of anybody, from the

0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:20.640
<v Speaker 3>proprietor or manager to the Stockman, Cook rous about and

0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.880
<v Speaker 3>the Jack. But that Act that was supposed to protect

0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.760
<v Speaker 3>Aboriginal women and to make provisions for the better protection

0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:33.520
<v Speaker 3>of all Aboriginal inhabitants of Western Australia did nothing to

0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.160
<v Speaker 3>stop the widening femicide and rape of Aboriginal women right

0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.600
<v Speaker 3>across the state. It was simply business as usual. In fact,

0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:44.840
<v Speaker 3>in many ways it got worse. There were also some

0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.640
<v Speaker 3>horrific ideas around the colony at the time. Amongst the

0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.800
<v Speaker 3>white settlers, it was said the idea of chastity amongst

0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.360
<v Speaker 3>Aboriginal women was considered by the European men as an

0:15:56.360 --> 0:16:01.600
<v Speaker 3>I quote preposterous. In a paper by Professor Judy Atkinson,

0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.360
<v Speaker 3>she quotes Northern Territory pastoralist Alfred Giles as saying, no

0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.160
<v Speaker 3>less preposterous is the idea of a black woman being outraged.

0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:16.320
<v Speaker 3>Giles was the friend of Mounted Constable William Wilshire, who

0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:21.400
<v Speaker 3>became notorious for his skills in dispersing the natives I quote,

0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:27.160
<v Speaker 3>and wrote rapturously about black virgins all being nude, having

0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.640
<v Speaker 3>suggested that perhaps God meant them for use as he

0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:35.480
<v Speaker 3>pleased them wherever the pioneers go. Willsher argued for the

0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.600
<v Speaker 3>use of Aboriginal women by white bushmen, but loathed the

0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:44.000
<v Speaker 3>resulting offspring of these unions. The offspring, of course, became

0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.880
<v Speaker 3>the first children known as half castes and who would

0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.600
<v Speaker 3>go on to be stolen from their families. Willshare was

0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.720
<v Speaker 3>a notorious figure in colonial Australia. In eighteen ninety one,

0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.120
<v Speaker 3>his men attacked a group of sleeping Aboriginal people camped

0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:04.240
<v Speaker 3>at Tempy Downs, killing two. The incident was investigated, and

0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.600
<v Speaker 3>will she became the first policeman charged with murder, and

0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.919
<v Speaker 3>he stood trial in Port Augusta. The case was highly controversial,

0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:17.000
<v Speaker 3>but public subscriptions raised the enormous amount of two thousand

0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.960
<v Speaker 3>pounds for his bail and also paid for his defense

0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:26.080
<v Speaker 3>by Sir John Downer. While Aboriginal witnesses gave evidence, of course,

0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:31.040
<v Speaker 3>Willshear was acquitted. After the trial, Willshear was simply transferred

0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.720
<v Speaker 3>to Victoria River District in eighteen ninety three, where he

0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:39.080
<v Speaker 3>would continue his crimes against Aboriginal people. His defender, Sir

0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.480
<v Speaker 3>John Downer, was of course the grandfather of Alexander Downer,

0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.080
<v Speaker 3>the foreign minister who took this country into an illegal

0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.119
<v Speaker 3>war in Iraq. Historian Tony Roberts, in his two thousand

0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:54.000
<v Speaker 3>and five award winning book Frontier Justice, A History of

0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.960
<v Speaker 3>the Golf Country to nineteen hundred, described the nature of

0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.960
<v Speaker 3>massacres and violent counters with Aboriginal people in the Golf

0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.919
<v Speaker 3>Country as part of the Australian Frontier War was His

0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:10.840
<v Speaker 3>research showed that senior colonial politicians, including the likes of

0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:15.399
<v Speaker 3>Downer and Shirdon Colton, along with South Australian police and

0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:20.960
<v Speaker 3>I quote Mastermind, condoned or concealed atrocities in the anti

0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.520
<v Speaker 3>Golf Country, which led to the deaths of at least

0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:28.680
<v Speaker 3>six hundred Aboriginal people, according to Henry Reynolds. Roberts concluded

0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:32.080
<v Speaker 3>that Downer's name occurred with greater frequency than any of

0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.600
<v Speaker 3>his colleagues, and he pointed out that Downer, as a

0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.399
<v Speaker 3>trained lawyer, an Attorney General from eighteen eighty one to

0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.040
<v Speaker 3>eighteen eighty four and then as Premier eighteen eighty five

0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:47.080
<v Speaker 3>to eighteen eighty seven, he must have either deliberately ignored

0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.879
<v Speaker 3>the rights of Aboriginal people that were embodied at the

0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:55.520
<v Speaker 3>time or was directly involved. This has gone unchanged since

0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.600
<v Speaker 3>the first ship landed from the massacres the supposed disbursement

0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.640
<v Speaker 3>sees that drove Aboriginal people off their land and killed men,

0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.960
<v Speaker 3>dragged women into sexual slavery, and left children to die.

0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:13.280
<v Speaker 3>This ingrained hatred and culture for Aboriginal women that said

0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.800
<v Speaker 3>that these men had a right to Aboriginal women's bodies

0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:21.000
<v Speaker 3>for sick sexual gratification swept through the colony for more

0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.720
<v Speaker 3>than one hundred and fifty years unchallenged, and then when

0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:29.200
<v Speaker 3>some changes came after the sixty seven referendum, the victim

0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.640
<v Speaker 3>blaming began, and this was used to justify the horrors

0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.360
<v Speaker 3>as the media stepped up its role in facilitating this genocide.

0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:43.000
<v Speaker 3>Queenie Hart was brutally murdered in the seventies, her body

0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.040
<v Speaker 3>dumped in the Fitzroy River, and her killer, Stephen Henry Keem,

0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.879
<v Speaker 3>allowed to walk free on the opening day of his

0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.359
<v Speaker 3>trial by a judge simply acting on a whim the

0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.560
<v Speaker 3>media having falsely labeled Queenie a sex worker or, to

0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.760
<v Speaker 3>be blunt in their words, a prostitute. In nineteen seventy three,

0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.080
<v Speaker 3>twenty three year old Aboriginal women Esther George, died in

0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.040
<v Speaker 3>a Sydney house fire. She'd come to the city a

0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:12.400
<v Speaker 3>year earlier from Dumagy in Queensland. The coroner said her

0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:17.040
<v Speaker 3>cause of death was and I quote from burns sustained

0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.160
<v Speaker 3>then and then when the house fire broke out within

0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:25.640
<v Speaker 3>those premises from a cause unknown. Not only a ridiculous statement,

0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.679
<v Speaker 3>but we do know the cause. The building she was

0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.080
<v Speaker 3>staying in that night was the target of a developer,

0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:37.280
<v Speaker 3>Frank Thierman, who'd hired thugs, including two former New South

0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:43.119
<v Speaker 3>Wales police detectives, Fred Cray and Keith Kelly, to intimidate residents.

0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:48.040
<v Speaker 3>Despite police attempts which ultimately failed to frame another Aboriginal

0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.919
<v Speaker 3>man for the murder, there is little doubt in my

0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:55.040
<v Speaker 3>mind that those retired New South Wales police officers were

0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.640
<v Speaker 3>involved in Esther's murder when they set that fire. They

0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.080
<v Speaker 3>were also accused of a number of rapes and murders

0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.560
<v Speaker 3>of women around Sydney and the state of New South Wales.

0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:11.800
<v Speaker 3>Lynette Daily and countless other women would follow, murdered and raped,

0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:16.400
<v Speaker 3>discarded as if worthless. The DPP filed twice to try

0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:20.920
<v Speaker 3>Lynnette's killers, despite the coroner, Michael Barnes, finding that there

0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:25.240
<v Speaker 3>could be and I quote no doubt that mister apt

0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:29.560
<v Speaker 3>Order had inflicted the fatal injuries, but even beyond a

0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.160
<v Speaker 3>reasonable doubt, the killer was deemed more worthy of freedom

0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.440
<v Speaker 3>than Lynette was of her life, and to this day,

0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:43.159
<v Speaker 3>in Queensland alone, the inquest into such debts continue. White men,

0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:47.280
<v Speaker 3>like all of the murderers I've mentioned so far, reveling

0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:50.679
<v Speaker 3>in more than two hundred years of colonial culture and

0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:55.399
<v Speaker 3>brutal killing of Aboriginal women like Constance may Watchow and

0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.200
<v Speaker 3>Miss Bernard, and hundreds and hundreds of others. Each, every

0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.639
<v Speaker 3>single one of these women has left this earth at

0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:06.200
<v Speaker 3>the hands of a settler, taking their piece of black velvet,

0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.240
<v Speaker 3>as they call it. And not one of these women

0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:13.040
<v Speaker 3>nor their families has had justice. This is the dark

0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.600
<v Speaker 3>stain that is smeared across this country. This is the

0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.880
<v Speaker 3>truth we seek to expose on this podcast and through

0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:23.480
<v Speaker 3>our work to name without fear in our voices, this

0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:27.640
<v Speaker 3>colonial culture that pulses through the pains of these lands

0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.719
<v Speaker 3>and will only be healed when justice is truly handed

0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.320
<v Speaker 3>down and hurt, and the humanity of each and every

0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:39.600
<v Speaker 3>Aboriginal woman and child is finally treasured with the sacred

0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:45.400
<v Speaker 3>love they deserve. This episode was brought to you by

0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:49.399
<v Speaker 3>Black Cast and produced by Clint Curtis. For more, you

0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:53.879
<v Speaker 3>can visit us at www dot Curtain podcast dot com,

0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.399
<v Speaker 3>follow us on Twitter at Curtain Podcast, and help to

0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:02.320
<v Speaker 3>support our work at Patreon dot com backslash Curtain Podcast.

0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:04.120
<v Speaker 3>M m hmmm.

0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:07.760
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmmmm

0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:09.440
<v Speaker 3>M