Richard J. Martin

Richard J. Martin is a postdoctoral research fellow and consultant anthropologist at the University of Queensland. His academic research focuses on issues of land and identity in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, where he has completed extensive fieldwork with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal residents over a number of years. He has also conducted applied research on native title claims and Aboriginal cultural heritage issues around Queensland.

Richard J. Martin reviews 'The Colonial Fantasy: Why white Australia can’t solve black problems' by Sarah Maddison

August 2019, no. 413 • 22 July 2019

‘Fuck Australia, I hope it fucking burns to the ground.’ Sarah Maddison opens this book by quoting Tarneen Onus-Williams, the young Indigenous activist who sparked a brief controversy when her inflammatory comments about Australia were reported around 26 January 2018. For Maddison, a Professor of Politics at the University of Melbourne, Onus-Williams’s Australia Day comments (and subsequent ... (read more)

Richard J. Martin reviews '"Against Native Title": Conflict and Creativity in Outback Australia' by Eve Vincent and 'Crosscurrents: Law and society in a native title claim to land and sea' by Katie Glaskin

May 2018, no. 401 • 24 April 2018

The year 2017 marked the twenty- fifth anniversary of the High Court’s 1992 decision in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (Mabo), which recognised the existence of Indigenous people’s traditional ‘native title’ rights over the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait. This finding, and the passage through parliament of the Keating government’s Native Title Act the following year, dramatically changed ... (read more)

Richard J. Martin reviews ‘Protests, Land Rights and Riots: Postcolonial struggles in Australia in the 1980s’ by Barry Morris

May 2014, no. 361 • 30 April 2014

Protests, Land Rights and Riots examines indigenous politics in New South Wales in the 1980s. The discussion focuses on several protests, including the infamous 1987 ‘Brewarrina riot’, which followed the death of a young Aboriginal man in police custody, as well as a 1990 demonstration against amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (New South Wales). Morris, an anthropologist, provi ... (read more)

Richard J. Martin reviews 'People on Country' by Jon Altman and Seán Kerins

February 2013, no. 348 • 28 January 2013

Over the last few years, issues associated with underdevelopment in Aboriginal Australia have been widely canvassed in the mainstream press, led by the likes of Noel Pearson, Marcia Langton, and Peter Sutton. This new edited volume adopts a somewhat different approach to Aboriginal development, focusing on Indigenous involvement in natural resource management around Australia. ... (read more)