Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) (1987–1991) was a Royal Commission appointed by the Australian Government in October 1987 to study and report upon the underlying social, cultural and legal issues behind the deaths in custody of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, in the light of the high level of such deaths. The Commission was conducted under the Commission of Inquiry (Deaths in Custody) Act 1987 as amended on 15 June 1988 and 15 June 1989. The inquiry into the deaths of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders after an arrest or conviction, whether by suicide, natural causes, medical conditions and injuries caused by police. The terms of reference for the inquiry limited it to such deaths between 1 January 1980 and 31 May 1989.

The Commission comprised 5 Commissioners: Patrick Dodson, D.J. O'Dea, Hal Wootten, AC, QC, L.F. Wyvill, QC and Elliott Johnston, QC. Hal Wootten was a former judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; and Elliott Johnston was a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Aboriginal activist Rob Riley was appointed Head of the Aboriginal Issues Unit of the Commission until Ruby Hammond was appointed to the position in 1990.

The Commission investigated 99 cases of Aboriginal deaths in custody between 1 January 1980 and 31 May 1989, including the death of rugby player Eddie Murray in 1981 at the Wee Waa police station, and the death of John Pat at Roebourne, Western Australia in 1983, of which commissioner Elliott Johnston was critical of the lack of any disciplinary charges against five officers implicated in the violent death of the 16-year-old Aboriginal boy—calling this "a most unsatisfactory state of affairs".

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