The families of Kumanjayi Walker have had to hold back their feelings from public view for more than two years. So when they were finally able to speak, on the steps of the Northern Territory supreme court on Friday, their grief and disappointment overwhelmed the carefully worded statements they had prepared.
A jury acquitted police officer Zachary Rolfe of murder on Friday over the 2019 shooting of Walker in Yuendumu. The court heard Walker was shot three times, with Rolfe arguing he acted to protect his and his partner’s safety.
Ned Jampinjinpa Hargreaves, a Warlpiri elder, was in tears when he spoke outside court after the verdict.
“When are we going to get justice?” he cried. “When?”
Hargreaves called for an end to guns in rural communities.
“Karrinjarla muwajarri. No guns! No guns in the rural remote community! Enough is enough! It’s gotta stop.
“To our people – let us stand strong. Let us respect each other. And we do not want to see another black young fella, or a girl, to be shot.”
Warren Williams then spoke, reminding the media and onlookers outside the court in Darwin that they were all on Aboriginal land, and that there was a need to show respect for that fact. “We are the custodians of this land, of this community called Australia. We need to be recognised as true owners of this land. We need to have control of our lives. We have our own yapa system in our culture, in our law.”
Walker’s families have worked hard to keep a lid on any commentary over the past two years, regularly reminding followers and supporters not to say anything on social media that could interfere with a fair trial. Their young leaders have worked as media managers, providing clarity and assistance, speaking with dignity and respecting the wishes of their elders. They showed an incredible capacity to stay calm and focused.
The last and youngest of the family to speak, Samara Fernandez Brown, wept as she spoke of five exhausting weeks at the trial. She wanted to remind everyone of Walker’s humanity. She said he was a “joyful and generous” young man who “loved animals, loved his family, who loved his partner, his friends, his homelands, who loved music”.
“A young man who was taken far too soon, and a young man who will be deeply, deeply missed,” Fernandez Brown said.
“Kumanjayi was only 19 years old when he died at the police station of Yuendumu after being shot three times by Zachary Rolfe. That is a fact. That cannot be disputed.”
“He died without his family’s support, even though we stood just outside, begging to come in to see if he was OK. He was rejected the opportunity to be comforted in his last moments, and we were robbed of the opportunity to say goodbye to him.
“Sometimes I think about how he must have felt in his last moments. Was he scared? Terrified, I’d imagine. Was he in pain? Excruciating pain, I would think. And he was alone. His death has affected our community and our family in ways that we can’t describe. We are all in so much pain.”
For the families of Walker and for Warlpiri people of Yuendumu, this case has brought back memories of the past. This was the first time a police officer was brought to trial for a shooting at Yuendumu, but they remember all the times when police acted with impunity along the colonial frontier.
The most recent mass killing of Warlpiri people happened at Coniston in 1928, when a police constable, George Murray, led a group of men on horseback who shot and killed more than 50 men, women and children at at least six sites. Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye people say up to 170 died.
When Warlpiri elders talk about wanting “no more guns”, they are referring to that history.
Fernandez Brown said there will now be a period of grieving for a life lost and for a reach towards justice, which for them has fallen far too short.
“We are deeply disappointed and, though we’ve been given a trial, I can’t, with honesty, say that it’s been fair ... We will return home and continue our healing process, but this is not the last you will hear from Kumanjayi Walker’s family,” Fernandez Brown said.
The next step will be a coronial inquest, which will examine the details of what happened after the shooting, when police took Walker into the station and the families waited outside for hours for news of his condition.
“This is not the end of his story. This is not the end of our fight, after some rest we will turn our attention to the coronial inquest where we hope our truth and our questions will finally come. To ensure no other family will go through what we have endured over the past two years,” Fernandez Brown said.
