ARTHUR MURRAY is the chairperson of the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee. His son Eddie was killed in Wee Waa police lockup on June 12, 1981. Murray is on bail awaiting their appeal on February 26 against convictions for "riotous assembly" and assaulting police at a disturbance in Brewarrina on August 15, 1987, after police in riot gear attacked Aborigines in a park mourning the death in custody of Lloyd Boney. At the trial in Bathurst in March and April 1991, evidence from two independent witnesses, including the local publican whose hotel was damaged, showed Murray was not guilty.
Murray and his co-accused Sonny Bates were sentenced to 18 months' jail despite the Royal Commission's recommendation that imprisonment be only used as a sanction of last resort for Aboriginals. The trial judge ignored his own finding that Murray is a man of "very good character" who, far from being a danger to society, is "compassionate, one who is thinking of others and one who in particular has been an activist on behalf of members of the Aboriginal community".
Here, Arthur Murray briefly describes his own background.
I think most of us Aboriginal people were brought up in a small country township, where racism and discrimination was, and in my mind still is, a bad part of life.
My experience when I was at school was affected by the government policy of having two different schools, one for the Aboriginals and one for the whites, but with white teachers telling the Aboriginals the right from the wrong. We the Aboriginals weren't allowed to mix with the white students at school until the end of the year sports day. That's what our teachers taught us.
Racism was always present in the township. Aboriginals were separated from the whites in picture shows and cafes, and weren't allowed into swimming pools. We had to accept what the whites handed out. This included low payments for employment.
I had to come to terms with this after leaving school. I started working in shearing sheds and other labouring jobs around the district. I got married at the age of 16 and travelled around most country towns in NSW working to support my wife Leila. In late 1959 our first child was born so we thought we had to settle down somewhere with the children.
I was offered a farmhand job on a station owned by a federal minister for transport, Mr Ralph Hunt of Rowena. We lived on the station, and were provided with meat and milk from the station free. After a long period, Mr Hunt sold his property and I was retrenched so we had to move on and find other employment.
I applied to the railways for employment where I was accepted as a fitter at Menah North and Pokatroo, then appointed a ganger at Cryon and the paymaster at Burren Junction. I was transferred to Narrabri to take up a position as timekeeper for the mechanics' gang. This meant I had a lot of travelling and being away from home and my family. By then Leila and I had 12 children, nine girls and three boys, and I was forced to leave the railways because of this. By this time cotton had started being grown in the Wee Waa and Narrabri district so we decided to move to Wee Waa. We both worked there on the cotton fields. I would work all week, and Leila would work on the weekends. We bought two army tents and we lived on the Tulladunna reserve just out of Wee Waa. Our children attended the local school in Wee Waa. Our wage was $20 for both of us for 12 hours' work. We would work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
As the cotton grew bigger and more widespread many Aboriginals came to the district for employment. I would say for sure that as many as 2000 to 3000 Aboriginals would come each season for employment. Some would go back to their home towns and many would stay in Wee Waa. Many Aboriginals made Wee Waa a permanent place to live, as we did. We had to make our own toilets on the reserve, and carry wood and water from the river for washing and cooking.
Myself and other Aboriginals thought we were underprivileged people in Wee Waa, so we had to do something about it. Firstly, I took on the farmers about higher wages and shorter hour through the Australian Workers Union. We then protested to the local shire council for better living conditions, to the Housing Commission for some housing, and also for medical treatment for our sick children and the elderly. We made an arrangement to meet the leader of the cotton growers, Mr Paul Karhl, the local doctor Dr Penny, shire councillor Mr Ron Brady and church leader Mr Murray Ramage.
So a meeting was called for all concerned. A committee named the Aboriginal Advancement Association was set up. Funds were allocated and an office was rented.
I formed an employment office to deal with employment for both Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, including some other ethnic groups that came to the district seeking employment. Rather than go to the CES office at Narrabri, the itinerant workers would come to us and we would direct them toward work.
The local police had to be onside with the local whites, and most of the time they made a wrong out of a right, by arresting Aboriginal people and charging them with offences like drunk and disorderly, stealing etc. I then arranged to employ an Aboriginal Legal Service field officer from Moree to work with us to stop some of the foolish attacks towards Aboriginals. I knew what was wrong, and I had to make it right.
We were the last family to leave the reserve to live in town amongst the white people. Not that it mattered much, but it was good to live under a roof with electricity and water laid on, and out of the cold with the children.
After moving into the house, I kept on performing my duty for the Aboriginal community doing what I thought best. I've had my share of troubles with the uptown niggers, the racist whites and most of all the police. The police would make a comment such as: "Spending taxpayers' money again, A. Murray, bailing out drunks." Sure I used to bail Aboriginals out of jail, because we were employing them.
Our organisation was well respected by all Aboriginals. It wasn't a radical organisation. All that we wanted was to be shown fair and honest respect by all people black and white. After a few years I had this racist problem under control, but in 1981 tragedy struck me and my family in losing a loved one, our second eldest son Eddie, in police custody at Wee Waa lockup.
Eddie's death made me so much more determined to fight back more strongly. We wanted to find out the truth of how Eddie's life was taken. We believed Eddie was killed in custody, and that is a belief we still have.
When the inquest was held in Narrabri and Sydney, the coroner found that Eddie had died by the hand of some person or persons unknown. So the coroner's finding was an open verdict. I was never satisfied with the way the investigation went on by the police.
After Eddie's death we couldn't live in Wee Waa because of the great harassment we got from the police and people of Wee Waa, so we arranged to get a transfer to Dubbo, a bigger town in the central west. We thought we would not be recognised there, but after the Brewarrina incident my name came up once again, having been charged for something I've never done and for forming and leading a group to set up a Royal Commission into Aboriginals Deaths in Custody.