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3 unusual facts about 2004 Palm Island death in custody


2004 Palm Island death in custody

Brisbane-based band Powderfinger wrote a song Black Tears which mentioned the Palm Island death in custody by the words "An island watch-house bed, a black man's lying dead".

In one of the more unusual political controversies of the Beattie Government, then Queensland Indigenous Policy Minister Liddy Clark offered for activist Murandoo Yanner and Carpentaria Land Council chief executive Brad Foster to accompany her to Palm Island in the weeks after the riot at taxpayers' expense.

After the trial concluded the Union released advertisements against the Beattie Queensland government, comparing the government to Robert Mugabe and his government.


Indigenous Australians and crime

The issue resurfaced in 2004 when an Indigenous man, Mulrunji Doomadgee, died in custody in Palm Island, Queensland, an incident that caused riots on the island.


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