Jennifer Moran; 18/7/08
The Tall Man; Chloe Hooper; Penguin
The”tall man” appears as an agent of malevolence in Aboriginal stories all over Australia, writes Chloe Hooper in her account of the circumstances surrounding the death of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004, the violence that followed it and the later trial of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley. In choosing The Tall Man as her title, Hooper presumably wants us to make that association with the man pivotal to this story, Senior Sergeant Hurley, who, at 200 centimetres, towers over most people. Hurley would not speak to Hooper. Perhaps he was wary of her motives or felt she would be biased. Hooper had gone to the island at the invitation of the criminal lawyer Andrew Boe, who acted for the Palm Island Aboriginal Council and she had spent time with the family of the dead man, gathering background to cover the inquest held to determine the cause of Doomadgee’s death. Hooper’s report on that inquest was published in The Monthly magazine and won her a Walkley Award. … The Tall Man explores many themes – the uneasy relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, the legacy of our cruel history, the poverty and problems that beset many remote Aboriginal communities, the unequal application of justice — but at its heart is a compelling human story in which hasty passion and terrible chance propelled one man to defend his character and his profession and the other to a painful, untimely death.
See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/the-tall-man/2008/07/18/1216163140479.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Death in Custody