Palm Island Through a Long Lens

By Rachael Cummins and Joanne Watson

In November 2004, Mulrunji Doomadgee's tragic death triggered civil unrest within the Indigenous community of Palm Island. This led to the first prosecution of a Queensland police officer in relation to a death in custody. Despite prolonged media attention, much of it negative and full of stereotypes, few Australians know the turbulent history of 'Australia's Alcatraz', a political prison set up to exile Queensland's 'troublesome blacks'. In Palm Island, Joanne Watson gives the first substantial history of the island from pre-contact to the present, set against a background of some of the most explosive episodes in Queensland history. The repressive regimes were under the guise of protectionism. But police control continues, and there is a continuing failure to address the causes of ongoing Indigenous disadvantage. Palm Island, often heart-wrenching and at times uplifting, is a study in the dynamics of power and privilege, and how it is resisted.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0855757035
• ISBN13: 9780855757038
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Press
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"