Behrendt, Jason --- "Royal Commission Inquiry into the Death of Clarence Alec Nean" [1990] AboriginalLawB 56; (1990) 1(47) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 13

• Royal Commission Inquiry Into The Death Of Clarence Alec Nean

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Royal Commission Inquiry into the Death of Clarence Alec Nean

by Jason Behrendt

Clarence Alec Nean (Clarrie), aged 33, died at Dubbo hospital on August 15, 1982 from a brain haemorrhage sustained after collapsing at Walgett Police Station. It was probably alcohol withdrawal which caused him to to collapse . He was spending four days on a warrant for a $80 fine default which he had received for stealing a tin of sardines and sauce valued at $1.07 from a local store while intoxicated.

Commissioner Wootten found that his death

“was the culmination of a fife that had been tragically shaped by the circumstances in which he and his parents and Aborigines generally lived, and ended with the years reduced to futility by his addiction to alcohol.”(p.1).

Commissioner Wootten found that Clarrie's death could be attributed to alcoholism which arose for two reasons;

"One is the highly disturbed childhood in which he spent nine of his first 15 years in a series of homes and institutions. The other, itself linked to the first, is the stress of growing up as an Aboriginal in a society in which Aboriginals were marginalised, denigrated and denied dignity and control of their lives by a racist bureaucracy and community"(p2)

Clarrie's life was destroyed by Government bodies which were given `extraordinary' powers that enabled them to exercise dictatorial control over the lives of Aboriginal people. As a result, families were dispersed and traditional culture undermined. It was through this history of subjugation, that Clarrie became a ward of the state.

Because Aboriginal people were forced from their traditional diet, to an inadequate diet of flour, sugar and tea, malnutrition in some Aboriginal communities was inevitable. Clarrie was a victim of this insidious cycle that flowed from the dispossession of Aboriginal people from their land and the Government policies of assimilation.

At two years of age Clarrie was taken from his family. For the next thirteen years he was institutionalised in a series of homes that included Kinchela Boys Home and Daruk Training School, despite the constant protests of his parents. With this background, and the constant pressures of living in a racist society, it was no surprise that Clarrie turned to alcohol. He had occasionally been convicted for petty offences which usually involved theft of food. His final crime was such an offence.

There were several important issues raised in Commissioner Wootten's report. He noted the need for fundamental social changes to `liberate' Aboriginals from the pressures that have made alcohol such a destructive feature of Aboriginal life. These changes must be initiated from within the Aboriginal community. The Report recommends the establishment of civilian proclaimed places to which intoxicated persons may be taken to avoid being placed in police cells. Commissioner Wootten stressed the need for opportunities for self determination, referring to the beneficial activities of community organisations like Barwon Aboriginal Community Limited (p.81).

The report criticised the way in which Local Councils have used the Local Government Act to prohibit drinking on the streets and footpaths. Such practices serve to

"negate to some extent the decriminalisation of public drunkenness in a racially discriminatory way" (p.78).

The Commissioner was also critical of the imposition of bail conditions which could not be met.(p.80).

However, the most stringent criticisms were levelled at Government policy and the activities of Welfare bodies which had ensured that;

"... Clarrie was to grow up in an environment in which racism was taken for granted, in which he was expected as an Aboriginal to accept intrusive scrutiny and surveillance, and a role as an inferior to white people who would `manage' him and `educate' him to be more like them, and continually judge him for his conformity"(p.32).

The need for social change is noted by Commissioner Wootten when he states;

" A reduction in the great disproportion of Aboriginals in custody will be difficult to achieve without fundamental changes to the racist attitudes that have pervaded the treatment of Aboriginals. Aboriginals must have real opportunities to escape from the situation to which they were forced by dispossession and institutionalisation. Fundamental is the need to restore self esteem and, as part of this, independence, and an opportunity to take real responsibility for their own affairs. The deep desire for this is expressed in claims for `self-determination', `self-government' or `sovereignty'.... Like other countries, Australia has to learn to listen to its indigenous people and to face the hard task of finding what meaning can be given to their claims within a nation state." (p.9).

Although the Report on the Death of Clarence Nean will not provide any new information for the many Aboriginal people who have experienced the injustices that Clarrie endured, it is hoped that it will draw the attention of the Australian public, to the continuing depravation and discrimination that Aboriginal people are subjected to. It is hoped that this will generate greater public support for Aboriginal claims to self-determination.