A Matter of Justice

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1981. Soft cover. Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 249 pages, indexed. There is the shadow of a price sticker on the front end paper, else the book is as new. First published in 1978, this is a second imptression. " The Aboriginal 'Embassy' on the lawns outside Parliament House, Canberra, was a striking symbol of the dissatisfaction many Aborigines feel with the justice they receive under the white man's law. This book demonstrates how that justice discriminates against Aboriginal Australians. Dr Rowley discusses typical situations - the plight of the Aboriginal employee on the northern cattle stations, the fringe dwellers round country towns, those living in the cities and those still on managed reserves. He examines the question of land rights, and the failure of the white institutions to offer justice to Aborigines. The book ends with a discussion of the role of bureaucracy in Aboriginal administration and of the opportunities which could be offered to Aborigines through new institutions. In A Matter of Justice the author's knowledge and understanding of Aborigines and their problems reveals a compassion and humanity towards Aboriginal people all too rare among white Australians."