Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Announced on 10 August 1987 and appointed by Letters Patent of 16 October 1987, issued by the Administrator of the Commonwealth on the advice of the Hawke government, appointing Justice James Henry Muirhead of the Federal Court as sole commissioner to inquire into deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody since 1 January 1980 and the action taken after each death. He could sit in combination with inquiries commissioned by the states; the Northern Territory issued its own commission under its Commission of Inquiry (Deaths in Custody) Act 1987.

Legislation: Royal Commissions Act 1902

1. 21 December 1987Letters Patent varied to allow the inquiry to sit in combination with the Northern Territory commission.
2. 6 May 1988Elliott Johnston, Hal Wootten and Lewis Wyvill appointed additional commissioners and the terms of reference refined; reporting date extended to 31 December 1989.
3. 27 October 1988D. J. O’Dea appointed an additional commissioner (for Western Australia) and the reporting date extended to 31 December 1990.
4. 21 December 1988Interim report issued.
5. 28 April 1989Muirhead resigned; Elliott Johnston appointed national commissioner, with the inquiry limited to deaths up to 31 May 1989.
6. 1 July 1989Patrick Dodson appointed commissioner to report on underlying issues in Western Australia.

The final report was published on 15 April 1991, after an interim report on 21 December 1988. It found that the 99 deaths were not caused by unlawful, deliberate killing by police or prison officers, and attributed them largely to the grossly disproportionate rate at which Aboriginal people were taken into custody. Its 339 recommendations covered custodial care, policing, alcohol, self-determination and underlying disadvantage; a 2018 review found that 64% had been fully implemented.

• Inquiry into each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander death in custody from 1980 to 1989
• Review of police, coronial and other inquiries into those deaths
• Inquiry into underlying social, cultural and legal issues

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