![Goolwa-Hindmarsh Island causeway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Goolwa-Hindmarsh_Island_causeway.jpg)
The Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission was a
Royal Commission into the nature of female
Aboriginal religious beliefs relating to
Goolwa and
Hindmarsh Island
Hindmarsh Island (Ngarrindjeri: Kumerangk) is an inland river island located in the lower Murray River near the town of Goolwa, South Australia, Goolwa, South Australia.
The island is a tourist destination, which has increased in popularity si ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
that was triggered by the
Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy
The Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy was a 1990s Australian legal and political controversy that involved the clash of local Aboriginal Australian sacred culture and property rights. A proposed bridge to Hindmarsh Island, near Goolwa, Sout ...
.
Background
In May 1995, the South Australian media carried reports that the 'secret women's business' had been fabricated. Five
Ngarrindjeri
The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...
women reportedly said that they did not believe in or had never heard of the 'secret women's business' until it had been raised by Doreen Kartinyeri. In June 1995 there were further allegations that two prominent members of the Ngarrindjeri community – Doug and Sarah Milera – had confirmed the allegations of
fabrication.
[Parliamentary Research Service (Cth), ''Bills Digest'' (Digest No 50 of 1996-97, 4 November 1996).]
In response, the
South Australian Government
The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...
established a Royal Commission on 16 June 1995. A former South Australian District Court judge, Mrs Iris Stevens, was appointed as
Royal Commissioner. In brief, the Royal Commissioner was appointed to inquire into and report on whether any aspect of the 'women's business' was a fabrication and, if so, how the fabrication occurred, its extent and purpose.
Enquiry
Controversy plagued the work of the Royal Commission. The 'proponent women' refused to give evidence to the Commission; 'dissident' Ngarrindjeri women claimed threats and intimidation; Ngarrindjeri elder, Doug Milera reportedly withdrew his allegations that the 'secret women's business' had been fabricated; amateur historian, Betty Fisher, told the Commission she had first been told of the 'secret women's business' in 1960; and anthropologists from the
South Australian Museum
The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultu ...
disputed the existence of the 'secret women's business'.
None of the dissident women were able to take their claims of fabrication further than their own lack of knowledge of the beliefs.
Several admitted that they had no knowledge of any Ngarrindjerri culture or traditions at all. Some admitted that it was not
unreasonable for only a limited number of women to be privy to traditional secrets. One took the position that they saw no
point in living in the past even if the claims were true. The women all identified themselves as Christians and it has been
suggested some saw
The Dreamtime as incompatible with their own beliefs, was a
Pagan belief and
as such, wrong.
It had been shown before the Commission that no anthropological work regarding the Ngarrindjeri, specifically
Ronald Berndt
Ronald Murray Berndt (14 July 1916 – 2 May 1990) was an Australian social anthropologist who, in 1963, became the inaugural professor of anthropology at the University of Western Australia.
He and his wife Catherine Berndt maintained a close ...
's
authoritative book ''A World That Was,'' mentioned the existence of a secret life for Ngarrindjeri women. Cultural geographer Dr
Jane Jacobs argued that these publications needed to be seen as a product of their times. In the case of Berndt, we are assuming a
male anthropologist walking into an Aboriginal community in the 1940s got the truth. His enquiries were likely not directed towards
secrets held by female members of the tribe. Connie Roberts, who was born in 1919 and was one of the elders who had passed the
"women’s business" on to Doreen Kartinyeri, was asked about talking about such things with an anthropologist: ''You can't. You're
not supposed to talk about things like that. My parents told me, only the old people used to tell certain people.''
Findings
The Royal Commission's report was published in December 1995. Its major findings were:
*the "... 'women's business' emerged in response to a need of the anti-bridge lobby to provide something of sufficient cultural significance to warrant the making of a declaration by the Federal Minister";
*the 'women's business' was unknown to the twelve dissident Ngarrindjeri women who gave evidence before the Commission and who were described by the Royal Commissioner as '
credible witness
In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
es";
*looking at "the whole of the evidence, including the history of events, the anthropological evidence and the evidence of the dissident women, ... the whole claim of the 'women's business' from its inception was a fabrication";
*the purpose of the fabrication was to obtain a declaration prohibiting the construction of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge under the Commonwealth's
;
*The secret women's business was irrational because the barrages were a more intrusive barrier than a bridge could be.
After the Royal Commission
The
Howard Government passed the ''Hindmarsh Island Bridge Act (1997)'', which allowed construction to go ahead; and in August 2001, in a civil case in the
Federal Court of Australia, Justice
John von Doussa
John William von Doussa (born 17 September 1940) is a former Australian judge and public servant. He was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1988 to 2003, president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission from 2003 to 2 ...
rejected claims for damages by the developers, stating that he was not satisfied that the claims of "secret women's business" had been fabricated.
[.]
References
External links
The Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission, (June 1996), ''The Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission : Transcript of proceedings'' Government of South Australia
{{Aboriginal South Australians, state=collapsed
Australian Aboriginal culture
History of South Australia
Indigenous Australian politics
Religion in Australia
South Australian royal commissions
Ngarrindjeri
Politics of South Australia