Tuckiar v the King (1934)

Tuckiar v The King

Court	High Court of Australia
Decided	8 November 1934
Citation(s)	[1934] HCA 49, (1934) 52 CLR 335
Court membership
Judges sitting	Gavan Duffy CJ, Starke, Dixon, Evatt and McTiernan JJ

Tuckiar v The King is a landmark Australian judgment of the High Court. The matter examined the behaviour of the judge and lawyers in the trial of Dhakiyarr (Tuckiar) and has become a case study in and raises many issues for legal ethics regarding instructions by Judges and the behaviour of defence counsel and the treatment of Aboriginals before the Justice System.

Dhakiyarr (Tuckiar) Wirrpanda, a Yolngu Aboriginal man living a traditional life, was sentenced to death in the Northern Territory Supreme Court for the murder by spearing of Constable Albert McColl on an island off Arnhem Land. McColl had gone to Arnhem Land with a police party to apprehend some Aboriginals thought to have killed the crew of a Japanese pearling lugger. When he was killed, McColl had been handcuffed to Djappari, a wife of Dhakiyarr.

The trial lasted only one day, and the all-white jury took just over two hours to find Tuckiar guilty. Defences of self-defence or provocation were not put to the jury.