Memorial to Robert Walker

Memorial to Robert Walker

By Craig Cormick

CANBERRA — More than 50 people met on November 23 to commemorate a plaque and plant a tree in memory of Aboriginal poet Robert Walker, who died in custody in 1984.

Robert Walker died in Fremantle Prison at the age of 25, after suffering a brutal beating. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody described his death as "a misguided use of force".

Speakers at the ceremony, organised by the Canberra branch of the international writers' organisation PEN, included senior Ngunawal elder Agnes Shea, Jackie Huggins from the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and Robert Walker's sister Charlotte Walker.

"For Aboriginal people, to write poems like Robert did, is to sign your death sentence", said Charlotte.

After reading from a collection of Robert's poems she had published, Charlotte dedicated the book to "all the Aboriginal people who died in police custody".

From GLW issue 300