Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/96916
Type: Conference item
Title: Recent developments in Australian place-based courts for Indigenous users
Author: Grant, E.M.
Athony, T.
Citation: International Journal for Court Administration, 2015, pp.1-31
Publisher: Flinders University
Issue Date: 2015
Conference Name: 28th Annual Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) (25 Nov 2015 - 27 Nov 2015 : Adelaide, South Australia)
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Elizabeth Grant, Thalia Anthony
Abstract: Postcolonial studies posit that Indigenous cultures cannot be understood apart from place. Escobar states that ‘culture sits in place’. Indigenous Australians regard their connection to country to be based on a unique ontological relationship with land (Moreton-Robinson, 2003). Blagg (2008) states that Indigenous laws are ‘embedded in place’ and accordingly linked to Indigenous governance, well-being and healing. Resolution of conflict takes place on country and has meaning because it has cultural authority. By contrast, the justice practices of the settler state tend to be located in an environment that alienates the individual. In the courts, the courtroom insignia (coats of arms) and the structural layering play an important role in denoting the power of the judicial officer and the legal system, including the power to appropriate Indigenous symbols (Mohr, 2003; Marchetti, 2007). This article critically addresses the capacity of place-based courts that respond to Indigenous meaning through not only location but also architecture and symbols. Postcolonial methodologies, which seek to engage Indigenous worldviews, were captured in the design process for courthouses at Port Augusta, Kalgoorlie and Kununurra through consultation with Indigenous stakeholders. However, it argues that while location and design plays an important element in reinscribing a sense of place, it needs to be inter-connected with Indigenous laws, relationships and ceremonies in the justice process. Aboriginal courts at Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie are embryonic features of this connection that need to be progress for Indigenous offender, victim and community well-being and healing to take place in otherwise state-centred justice venues.
Rights: © Authors
Published version: http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/ccpr/anzsoc/anzsoc_home.cfm
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 3
Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning publications

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