Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
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THE RECOGNITION OF ABORIGINAL CUSTOMARY LAWS - 713. Background.
The Strelley Community, [117] comprising 500-600 people, is situated
about 40 kilometres inland from Port Hedland (WA) although in recent
years there has been a great deal of movement away from Strelley
Station so that people are now spread over a number of properties.
It is a very self-contained and independent community with strong
leadership. No police are stationed there. Strelley has a unique
background. The Aboriginal people living there are part of a large
group of Aborigines who walked off pastoral properties in the area
in 1946. In part the strike was in protest at working conditions
and the treatment to which they were subjected, but it was also a
protest against the repeal of the Constitution Act 1889 (WA) s 70,
which had provided a guarantee of public expenditure on behalf of
the colony's Aboriginal population. [118] This walk-out breached a
number of Western Australian laws, in particular the
Native Welfare Act 1905
(WA), and resulted in a number of persons, Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal, spending time in gaol. More recent events have
included various mining ventures and the purchase of a number of
pastoral properties. The Strelley Community now runs several pastoral
properties which employ approximately half the people living there.
[119]
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