10 December 2004
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS TIMES WINS HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
An independent newspaper with an editorial staff of three has won the 2004 Human Rights Print Media Award for a special report on "stolen" wages and payments owed to Aborigines from the turn of the century in NSW.
Stolen Wages Payback Shame documented the story of the wages and savings, pensions and other payments to Aborigines withheld by New South Wales Governments for 70 years until 1969. It detailed the "unwritten policies" pursued by successive Governments of denying liability, misleading Aboriginal people about the fate of the funds and resisting efforts by the rightful owners of the money from claiming it back.
The judges were impressed by the effort undertaken by the small newspaper and the direct impact it had in prompting action by the NSW Government, other State Governments and Indigenous organisations. They said the power of the piece came not just from the revelations of past injustices, but also the illustration that Indigenous people's lives are still being frustrated by government failure.
Judges highly commended Debra Jopson and Gerard Ryle from the Sydney Morning Herald for their investigative report titled Black Land, White Shoes.
Described by the judges as a stand-out piece of investigative reporting that involved a massive effort by the reporters and investment by the newspaper, the stories uncovered the ongoing damage to Aboriginal people in the name of "land rights".
Last updated 14 December 2004.
