Judge With “Touch Of Tar” makes Australian Legal History

A distinguished indigenous Australian lawyer has made legal history by becoming the first indigenous person to be appointed to the Supreme Court in the state of Queensland and thus Australia’s first indigenous Supreme Court Judge. Justice Lincoln Crowley was sworn in on Monday June 13, the first person of indigenous descent among 1333 persons appointed in the 163-year history of the Court.

After his swearing-in, Justice Crowley, besides paying tribute to his family, openly recalled some of his life’s experiences of racism, even after he was first appointed to the judiciary. He said that then ‘the bench’, “felt like a club in which I didn’t fit into”.The new Supreme Court Judge also recalled earlier life experiences of racism – by his school Headmaster, during university days and when he first applied for a job, the manager throwing his application in the dustbin when he found out Crowley’s race. There was also the reaction of a fellow lawyer (white of course), when he learnt of Crowley’s background.

“Oh, so you’ve got a touch of the tar”, he commented.

The judge with “the touch of tar” now sits proudly on the Supreme Court staking the rightful claims for equality and justice by Australia’s long-suffering indigenous people.