ABSTRACT
This book is born of a shared sense of the responsibility we, as university teachers in a law school, shoulder in supporting the journey toward maturity as one nation, the journey toward reconciliation. It is the product of the close relationship between the school of law and Yunggorendi, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Programme at the Flinders University of South Australia. It has grown from a commitment not just to the education of indigenous lawyers, but to the liberation of our non-indigenous students by raising their consciousness and understanding of indigenous Australians. In this regard, like other law schools, we have encouraged teachers across the breadth of the LLB to consider the perspective of the indigenous people in all of their courses. And, in support of such teaching, we have developed an optional topic carrying the same name as this book. We find ourselves in entire agreement with the Chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation when he said:1
We are very conscious of the fact that the average law student in South Australia is a person who has received a private education, whose family are financially comfortable, whose contact with indigenous people extends no further than superficial observations fuelled by perceptions grounded in stereotypes. We are wary of simply portraying the indigenous people as victims of a legal system introduced by and designed for the dominant culture. We are conscious of the fact that their own law continues to operate, to different extents, in different communities.
