Tall Man : The Death of Doomadgee

I wrote the following review as a student piece in 2010, not long after first reading Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee, or as it was titled then, ‘The Tall Man':

Written by Walkley award-winning journalist Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man is a highly nuanced and penetrative account of the author's observations while on Palm Island during the inquiry into the death in police custody of Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee.

‘On 19th November 2004, a drunk Aboriginal man had been arrested for swearing at police. Less than an hour later, he died with injuries like those of a road trauma victim. The State Coronor reported there was no sign of police brutality, backing up the police claim the man had tripped on a step. The community did not agree, and a week later burnt down the police station. Police immediately invoked emergency powers, flying in special squads trained in counter-terrorist tactics, who arrested countless locals including teenagers and grandmothers. I went there two months later' (from The Tall Man, 2008, 8).

With the recent re-opening of the inquiry into the death of Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee, The Tall Man provides a powerful exploration of not only the particular details and background of the Doomadgee case, but also a compelling account of the contemporary imbroglio of indigenous-police relations in North Queensland. I found myself drawing parallels to George Orwell's Burmese Days and Conrad's Heart of Darkness in the pressing maelstrom of inercultural misunderstanding and folly Hooper evokes.

From a legal perspective, The Tall Man is fascinating in that it reveals the inefficiency and inappropriateness of the justice system in its current form to the Palm Island community. However the distinguishing feature of The Tall Man I found to be its broader commentary on how little Australia has developed in reconciling indigenous Australia with white colonial Australia, remote rural Australia with centralised, urban Australia, and the corresponding ramifications for present and future justice and peace in our society.

If anything Chloe Hooper's book succeeds in demonstrating the integral role the justice system will play in determining whether our communities are brought together or driven further apart.