Classroom photo initiative seeks to recognise Indigenous law

A series of images that give prominence and due recognition to Indigenous law and jurisprudence are being installed in the MLS building as part of the Law School’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

A series of images that give prominence and due recognition to Indigenous law and jurisprudence are being installed in the MLS building as part of the Law School’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

The first image was installed during NAIDOC Week and depicts the plaintiffs in the case of Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1 with supporters and one of their lawyers in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1989. A second image, which shows the 16 Kulin men who comprised the 1886 Coranderrk deputation to Victorian Parliament to farewell the retiring Chief Secretary Graham Berry, was installed in September.

MLS Deputy Dean Professor Matthew Harding says the classroom photo mural initiative seeks to introduce Indigenous legal histories into the teaching spaces within the Law School.

“We are seeking to express our commitment to recognition and reconciliation in the physical environment in which we come together as a Law School community,” he says.

“MLS is a place where Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, along with people from all over the world, meet to learn and understand each other’s laws.

“Our hope is that the images, through their constant presence in our building, will remind all who see them of the history of legal relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and also inspire all who see them to imagine how legal relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians might be different and to work to bring about that vision.”

Additional imagens chosen for their national, historical and legal significance will be installed as part of the initiative in other MLS teaching spaces.

Learn more about the MLS classroom photo mural initiative: go.unimelb.edu.au/z686