Student handout 4: A Just Punishment
The goddess of justice
Aboriginal and British law
Australian Aboriginal law
Aboriginal law had existed in Australia for more than 60,000 years when the British
arrived. This law was passed down from generation to generation under the guidance
of the elders. It dealt with the land, which is sacred in Australian Aboriginal belief,
and the people’s relationships with each other.
Although Aboriginal people did not mine or farm the land, they took their shelter,
food and clothing from the land. This meant that they needed to move around within a
large district so that the plants and animals which they needed had time to regrow and
multiply before they came back to that same place. Their beliefs and their stories were
full of messages about how the land had to be respected and about how it was part of
them, not something separate from them.
Because of this way of life and these beliefs, no individual ‘owned’ land.
British law and the land
In British law the land is not sacred. Instead, British law says that land is something
which is owned by people and many people believe that it should be used to produce
as much as possible.
The British believed that you could show that you owned the land by the fact that you
farmed it. Because Aboriginal people did not have farms as the British did, the British
thought that the land wasn’t really being used. They said that no one really owned the
land in Australia; that it was just as if it was uninhabited.
From the point of view of the settlers, land was needed for farms. They believed that
people could own land, livestock and property, that trespassing is against the law and
that taking an animal owned by someone else is stealing.
(Discovering Democracy Upper Primary Units, ‘The Law Rules’, p 72)
• How does the way that Aborigines viewed the land differ from the way that the
British viewed the land?
• Why did the Aborigines not settle on the land?
• What was ‘ownership’ to the Aborigines? to the British?
Exploring the text
1. ‘One rule he told us we must strictly obey. When we went hunting, we must
understand that our weapons were to be used only for the gathering of food. We must
never use them for the sake of killing. This is in fact one of the strictest laws of the
Aborigine, and no excuse is accepted for abusing it.’ (‘A Just Punishment’, p 40)
• What does this rule tell us about the relationship between Aboriginal people and
the natural environment?
• What does this part of the story tell us about how we learn about rules and laws?
2. ‘He asked for no excuses for what we had done, and we did not offer any. We must
all take the blame. That is the way of the Aborigine.’ (‘A Just Punishment’, p 41)
• Why are all the children held responsible?
• Is it fair not to ask for excuses about why the boy broke the law?
• Is this the way that non-Indigenous people apply law? How does it differ?
• What does the ‘way of the Aborigine’ tell you about the values of their
community?
3. In small groups discuss whether it is right that all the children are punished for the
‘kookaburra incident’? Use the following table to record your reasons for both points
of view.
Yes, they all deserved to be
punished
No, they shouldn’t all have been
punished
Share your group’s responses with the rest of your class.
4. Who has passed judgment on the case and decided the punishment?
• What is the purpose of the punishment?
• What is your opinion of the punishment given to the children?
• What other punishments could they have been given? Give reasons for your ideas.
Working beyond the text
5. Complete the mind map below to show what you think the word ‘justice’ means.
6. Create your own symbol (like the goddess of justice) that shows your
understanding of what justice is. Write a paragraph to explain what each part of your
symbol means. You can do this task on poster paper or use a computer to create a web
page to display your work.
7. Think about the different communities of which you are a part – home, school,
local council area, sports club, religious group etc. For each group answer the
following questions:
• How have the ‘rules’ been established?
• What happens when rules are broken?
• Who makes judgements about how lawbreakers should be dealt with?
• What is the purpose of the punishment?
• What form/s does the punishment take?
• Do you consider these to be fair?
• What alternatives can you suggest?
• What do the rules and punishments tell you about what is valued in this
community? Draw some simple diagrams to answer this question. For example:
8. In small groups discuss the following:
• We often talk of ‘the punishment fitting the crime’. What do you think is meant by
this?
• Can you think of some examples that illustrate this idea? Are there times when the
punishment can’t fit the crime? What are some examples of this? Why does this
situation occur?
• Share your answers in a whole class feedback session.
9. Write a real life story about a time when you were punished. Use the story to make
your ideas about just punishment clear – as does Oodgeroo Noonuccal in her story.
Make a storyboard of your written piece to display in your classroom.
10. From where did you get your ideas about justice and punishment? How have they
changed as you’ve grown up? What experiences have changed your thinking?
11. Find our more about the work of Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker). (You can
visit http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/noonuccal-oodgeroo.)