Ian Ward (1961 – 27 January 2008), commonly known as Mr Ward in media reports,Ward's first name was generally not used in media reports in respect for Aboriginal naming customs. was an Australian Aboriginal elder from Warburton,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

who died after being transported in the back of a prison van in the Western Australian outback.

Life

Ward was filmed as a child leading a traditional life with his family in the 1960s by film maker Ian Dunlop. He was a central community figure at Warburton and in the surrounding lands with a knowledge of culture, land, and art, and was known as a "culture man". He was involved in forging relationships between his own community and non-Aboriginal communities in

, elsewhere in Australia and overseas: he was chosen to represent the

Ngaanyatjarra The Ngaanyatjarra, also known (along with the Pini) as the Nana, are an Indigenous Australian cultural group of Western Australia. They are located in the Goldfields-Esperance region, as well as Northern Territory. Language Ngaanyatjarra is ...

lands in a delegation to China. Ward assisted and worked in outback Western Australia with a variety of

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

s, geophysicists and others associated with geological surveying. He had worked as an interpreter in transactions relating to

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

. Ward was involved in Landcare, looked after water holes, and baited

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es, dingoes and wild cats. He was a highly skilled hunter, but also assisted many non-indigenous people to see native wildlife such as bilbies and rock wallabies. As an elder, Ward worked for many years in a battle to have the rights of his people in the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve recognised. Ward was a well-known dancer and speaker and created works in glass including the art glass series ''The Seven Seals of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands''.

Death

On 26 January 2008, Ward was arrested by Laverton

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He was then driven to a courthouse,

remanded in custody Remand, also known as pre-trial detention, preventive detention, or provisional detention, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is held i ...

, and driven a further to a prison. The van's air conditioning was not working and the temperature was that day. Ward had a cut on his head from falling and third-degree burns to his stomach from lying on the metal floor after he fell. It was noticed by the Prison transport contractors G4S driving the vehicle that Ward was unconscious but they did not stop the van to check on him. He died shortly afterwards. The mode of transport used in Ward's death had already been warned about prior to his death. The response to the circumstances of the death was in part immediate.

Inquest and response

Ward's death was the subject of a

coronial inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

. The inquest found the two guards who accompanied him, the company in charge of the prison transfer service (G4S) and the WA Department of Corrective Services contributed to Ward's death. Compensation for his family after his death was delayed, and involved a number of government authorities The delays caused significant loss of confidence in both the government and its capacity to have safe delivery of prison transport in isolated areas of Western Australia. In 2010 the family were compensated. By 2011, some further responses were occurring, including the Department of Corrective Services pleading guilty to his death in May 2011.

Footnotes

References

External links

Archive of news stories under the keyword ''Mr Ward''
at ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...