Voice referendum supporter , the former High Court Australia Chief Justice Robert French believes in Aboriginal myths

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Robert French is a popular among "progressives"

Voice referendum supporter , the former High Court Australia Chief Justice Robert  French believes in Aboriginal myths. This what he had to say in  Robert Tickner v Robert Bropho [1993] FCA 208

 when he served on the Federal Court: 

 The contemporary Australian landscape is laced with the beautiful and intricate patterns of the Aboriginal Dreamtime mythology. That mythology is a priceless part of our national cultural heritage. Its fragility in conflict with the political imperatives of Commonwealth and State Governments is highlighted in this case.

36. The Waugyl is one of a number of ancestral beings responsible for physical creation. It is akin to the great Rainbow Serpent which figures in Aboriginal legends throughout Australia. There are creative and punitive aspects of the Rainbow Serpent. According to Aboriginal mythology, the Waugyl commenced its journey to the sea at the sources of the Swan River. Along the way there were particular sites at which it rested or engaged in activities. These are regarded as sacred places of special power which may be beneficial or harmful according to the behaviour of those who approach them. Many such sites were well established points where Aboriginal people traditionally met to trade and where inter-group meetings took place

Most people would dismiss myths,  but not  French who did not dismiss the Waugyl and Rainbow Serpent myths nor consider them irrelevant to the matter before him. 

Later in Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd v Tipakalippa [2022] FCAFC 193 the court  applied French's findings to deny Santos approvals for the Barossa project:

74. By these references to the Heritage Protection Act, we are not intending to suggest that the Heritage Protection Act was applicable to Santos’ proposed drilling activities. Rather, we refer to that Act to make it clear that the law recognises the kind of interests that Mr Tipakalippa contends required Santos to consult with him and the Munupi clan. Reference to the Heritage Protection Act demonstrates that by this Act the federal Parliament has expressly contemplated the protection of areas of the sea from activities harmful to the preservation of Aboriginal tradition. The Parliament has done so without requiring the existence of particular proprietary interests; rather requiring only the existence of a connection by Aboriginal tradition.
75. Indeed, this is how the Full Court in Tickner v Bropho [1993] FCA 208; 40 FCR 183 approached consideration of the “Aboriginal tradition” in issue in that case, which dealt with a challenge by Mr Bropho to the redevelopment of the Swan Brewery site in Perth, Western Australia. At 227 [36], French J had no difficulty in describing the relevant tradition without reference to any proprietary language:

According to the evidence of that tradition which Mr Bropho presented to the Minister, the Swan River and associated landscape features are part of a complex of myths centred upon an ancestral being called the Waugyl which created the river and its tributaries during epic journeys in the Dreamtime. The  Waugyl is one of a number of ancestral beings  responsible for physical creation. It is akin to the great Rainbow Serpent which figures in Aboriginal legends throughout Australia. There are creative and punitive aspects of the Rainbow Serpent. According to Aboriginal mythology, the Waugyl commenced its journey to the sea at the sources of the Swan River. Along the way there were particular sites at which it rested or engaged in activities. These are regarded as sacred places of special power which may be beneficial or harmful according to the behaviour of those who approach them. Many such sites were well-established points where Aboriginal people traditionally met to trade and where inter-group meetings took place. Such sites might be used for the settlement of disagreements, the establishment of alliances and the teaching of initiates in the responsibilities of manhood. The teaching included the transmission of the mythology associated with particular places and the rituals necessary to pay due respect to the Waugyl. The medium for the transmission of the mythology was song.

76. French J in Bropho at 223 [30] also described the purpose of the Heritage Protection Act as being:

enacted for the benefit of the whole community to preserve what remains of a beautiful and intricate culture and mythology.

Frensch wants Australians to believe that the proposed Voice amendments will have little if any effect on the lives of most Australians, and even if it did, it could only be good. Australians must wonder if the opinion of a man who believes in myths is worth anything.

END