Two special Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement (OISE) publications marking Flinders’ contribution to Indigenous affairs both in Australia and overseas are being launched as part of the University’s 50th anniversary.
The first, Indigenous Australians, Social Justice and Legal Reform: Honouring Elliott Johnston (Federation Press 2016) was officially launched by Hon Robyn Layton, QC at this year’s Flinders School of Law annual Elliott Johnston Memorial Lecture delivered by Emeritus Professor Michael Lavarch AO on Thursday 6 October.
The book is edited and introduced by Associate Professor Hossein Esmaeili, from Flinders Law School, and OISE Emeritus Professor Gus Worby and Associate Professor Simone Ulalka Tur, the Associate Dean, Tjilbruke Teaching and Learning at OISE.
The chapters cover issues of historical and contemporary Indigenous-non-Indigenous co-existence. These include native title, human rights, the criminal justice system, international law, stolen generations, first laws, self-determination, treaty and just recompense for colonial subordination of Indigenous space and place, peoples and cultures.
All of these matters were addressed by Elliott Johnston in his legal, political and educational contributions to public life – especially in his report on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 25 years ago.
The second book, The Long Campaign: the Duguid Memorial Lectures, 1994-2014 (Wakefield Press 2016), will be launched at the biennial Duguid Memorial Lecture to be given by Professor Tom Calma AO and hosted by the University of South Australia on Wednesday 30 November.
This collection of lectures by distinguished Indigenous educators and community leaders is edited and introduced by Professor Worby, Associate Professor Ulalka Tur and Yunggorendi Student Engagement Associate Lecturer Tristan Kennedy, all from the OISE.
Chapters address education policy at all levels, Indigenous health, reconciliation, community governance and national representation, Indigenous knowledge and philosophy, and the power of the written and spoken word in Indigenous literature and storytelling.
Charles and Phyllis Duguid saw these things as crucial to what they called the ‘advancement’ of Indigenous peoples from the 1930s to the 1980s. The collection brings currency to and new perspectives on their 50-year campaign.
The Elliott Johnston and Duguid lecture series and books contribute to the substantial Indigenous contribution to the progressive public reputation of Flinders University and the University’s contribution to Indigenous affairs in Australia and abroad.
The commemorative books can be purchased from Federation Books or Wakefield Press.