SIR RON WILSON LECTURE 2012: DENNIS EGGINGTON

Congress director Denis Eggington delivered the 2012 Sir Ronald Wilson Lecture entitled, “The Shackles Of Justice: The Impact of the British/Australian Legal System on Aboriginal West Australians from Colonisation to the Present.”

The event was presented by the Law Society of Western Australia.

“It is indeed a great honour to present the 2012 Sir Ronald Wilson Lecture. I met Sir Ron on a number of occasions and many of you will be aware of his role in the establishment of the Aboriginal Legal Service here in Perth in the early 1970s.

Today I want to explain the impact that British and Australian law has had on the First Peoples of Australia, and specifically on Aboriginal people here in Western Australia.

I hope that a positive from my talk is an understanding of how we as a people feel about what has happened.

I want to go beyond legal discourse. I want to discuss not just our very humanity but our very humility. To me, this captures the essence of Sir Ronald Wilson. A man who was small in stature, but gigantic as a social change agent through his own sense of humanity and his commitment to making our world a better place to live.

With this in mind I want to give you a personal account of the impact of Western law on our peoples, both from my own perspective and that of some other Aboriginal people, including Dr. Noel Nannup. Dr. Nannup is a highly respected Nyungar Elder, consultant, story-teller, Cultural mentor and Edith Cowan University’s Cultural Ambassador and he shares his views on the impact of western law upon Aboriginal people:”

Click here to read the full speech.