‘Monumental’: court ponders on Country sitting
An Indigenous woman facing trespass charges says approving a tribunal on Country would be a monumental step towards justice for Aboriginal people.
Ruth Langford is charged with two counts of trespassing and one of failure to comply with the request of an authorized officer for two 2025 anti-logging protests in Tasmania.
Yorta Yorta and the Dja Dja Wurrung woman first applied to the Hobart Magistrates’ Court to hear evidence in Country, which is understood to be a state.
Langford appeared in court on Friday and Chief Justice Catherine Geason is set to rule on the application on April 20.
“This could be a monumental time for a step toward justice for our people,” Langford said outside the court, adding that he was hopeful his request would be granted.
“I’m being made to come to them. I’m happy to do that… but our law is still in effect.
“Our community is still committed to the law and the Country. It makes sense for the court to give us equal respect.”
Langford said a very generous invitation had been made to the court to hear evidence at the Aboriginal Piyura Kitina in Hobart’s Risdon Bay.
He said a venue owned by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Center on the bay had sufficient audiovisual equipment to host it.
The bay, which was returned to the Aboriginal community in 1995, was the site of a massacre by colonists in 1804.
Langford told the court it was preferable for Ms Geason to be at Country in person so the judge could better understand why she was defending the forest.
Prosecution lawyer Deanne Earley, who said there were courts in regional areas, did not oppose the application.
Langford agreed that court security should be present, but suggested it be limited to a room where evidence will be heard.
Nala Mansell of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Center said a hearing on Country would be a huge symbolic gesture.
“The laws on Aboriginal lands were created to suit the needs of white people,” he said outside the court.
“These were never established to protect Aboriginal heritage, forests or our rights.”
The trial date is scheduled for early July, but one of the trespassing charges could be dropped depending on the outcome of former Greens leader Bob Brown’s appeal on another matter.
Langford, who pleaded not guilty and represented himself, said: “I am not a criminal. I am the protector of the Country.”
“This is an opportunity for a passageway. I’m not there fighting, I’m guiding. We must argue that there must be another passageway.”
