Hurley 6747

Other witnesses, who lived overlooking the lock-up, said the police repeatedly assaulted John Pat after pulling him unconscious from the van. He was left in a cell and no doctor was called. He died from extensive head wounds; and he had broken ribs and a tear in his aorta, the main blood vessel leading from the heart.

The five policemen were sent to trial for murder, but the charge was later changed to manslaughter. They were acquitted and reinstated to the police force. The Aborigines arrested with John Pat were convicted of aggravated assault against the police and sent to prison. They are scarred from their beatings.

1987, August 6 - Lloyd Boney, killed in custody aged 28 and buried in Brewarrina Cemetery on August 16, with his football team forming a guard of honour. He was the 16th Aborigine to die in police custody with eight months.

That evening there were few whites on the streets of Brewarrina. Up from the river marched Aborigines to the Brewarrina Hotel, which, they said, refused to serve blacks. They hurled beer kegs and bottles, smashing windows. Riot police were called and at first were beaten back.

The New South Wales Police Minister said on television that violence by blacks “will only cause more harm to their cause”. The local National Party candidate, who was also town coroner, accused the Sydney media of causing “racial disharmony” and “stirring up” the Aboriginal community.

Regrettably I would argue that not a lot has changed over the past two centuries, as highlighted above, as they are almost identical in their origin of farcical patterns of arrest and violent in-custody fatal conclusion.

Once again I evoke the famous words of Frederick Douglass: “The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.”

So let’s all keep our fingers crossed for a fair and just outcome of the Hurley court case that commences in the Townsville Supreme Court on April 9 and that we don’t see any police officers on guard that day wearing a blue band boldly displaying “6747”.