A Royal Omission: A critical summary of the evidence given to the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission with an alternative report
By Greg Mead
1995. $15.00
Reviewed by Philippa Stanford
The controversy around the Hindmarsh Island bridge has received extensive but not very accurate or informative coverage in the establishment media. Sensationalised media reports of division within the Ngarrindjeri community over the existence of sacred women's business prompted the state royal commission. The royal commission inquired into the validity of the sacred women's beliefs and eventually pronounced them a fabrication.
Mead's book looks at the evidence submitted to the commission and provides an alternative report that challenges its verdict.
Mead looks at the very questionable basis for the royal commission and exposes the interests of those promoting the bridge. In particular he examines the key media interviews that "proved" a division within the community. The interviewees later claimed that they had been misrepresented or drunk at the time.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the role of the state Labor government in committing $3 million to the construction of the bridge and its less than impartial involvement subsequently. Members and associates of the Liberal Party also played a key role by fostering division within the Ngarrindjeri community.
The web of misinformation and manipulation that Mead documents is very telling. The book concludes that even though the key proponents of the sacred women's business refused to participate in the royal commission, most of the evidence still supported the existence of women's business pertaining to Hindmarsh Island.
This is a very important book given the media's attempt to use the Hindmarsh Island controversy to discredit all Aboriginal land claims. It is also very timely because the second federal inquiry initiated by federal Aboriginal affairs minister Robert Tickner is currently receiving submissions.