Epilogue

Reporter:

It was phenomenal. I have to say in more than fifteen years as a journalist I haven’t seen a day quite like it and I’ve certainly never seen this sort of a scene in a courtroom before. We’re talking Hindmarsh Island, the ten-year saga of the bridge case about 80 kilometres south of Adelaide, known to the Aboriginal people, the traditional Ngarrindjeri custodians, as Kumarangk, and known to the whitefellas as Hindmarsh Island. It’s been the scene of a very bitter battle between the construction of a bridge that the Ngarrindjeri people believe would severely interfere with their sacred Dreaming pertaining to women’s business. The bridge, as our listeners would be aware, has been built due to a Royal Commission which found that the Aboriginal women’s business was fabricated.

Now in astonishing scenes in the Federal Court yesterday, Justice John von Doussa found that in his opinion, the evidence that he was presented suggests that the women’s business in fact was not fabricated: a huge, huge vindication for Aboriginal cultural beliefs here in, not just South Australia, but Australia. It essentially overturns the Royal Commission finding. We have some incredibly buoyant Aboriginal people here in Adelaide, including Dr Doreen Kartinyeri, who is the chief custodian of the women’s business that was at the centre of this row and she’s quite plainly elated.