This picture tells the story of a prison that was – and remains – medieval for Aboriginal inmates

‘What’s the difference between being an Indigenous inmate of Roebourne regional prison in 1900 and today?’ Photograph: State Library WA

The more things change for many Australians the more they stay shamefully the same for Indigenous people in Western Australia’s ill-named “justice system” – particularly if they happen to be jailed at Roebourne in the Pilbara.

While searching through the archives of the State Library of Western Australia, historian Chris Owen came across a telling photograph of Aboriginal inmates of the original Roebourne regional prison, which closed in 1923 (and briefly reopened from 1975 to 1984). If a picture could tell the story of a prison system that was – and remains – medieval for Indigenous prisoners, this one, taken between about 1890 and 1900, might be it.