Max Stuart - Campaigns Against Death Sentence

Campaigns Against Death Sentence

On 22 June 1959, Father Dixon contacted Dr. Charles Duguid, who ran the Aborigines’ Advancement League, to discuss Stuart’s situation. On 27 June, a meeting of the League, university teachers, clergymen and representative of the Howard League for Penal Reform was held in Duguid’s Magill home, where Dixon and Strehlow spoke to the meeting. It was decided to mount a campaign to keep Stuart alive, and the distribution of petitions for Commutation of sentence was arranged. The meeting was mentioned in a small report in The News, an afternoon newspaper, but didn’t mention the participants. On 30 June, the morning newspaper, The Advertiser, printed a letter expressing concern over Stuart’s conviction. On 1 June, The News printed a small story with the headline, Petitioners Run a Race with Death. By now supporters and opponents of the death penalty were debating in the two newspapers' Letter to the editor sections, but there was little concern expressed over Stuart himself.

When Dr. H. V. Evatt, federal leader of the opposition, intervened, the news was featured on the front page of "The News"’ 3rd of July edition. The campaign so far had been for commutation, but Evatt argued for a retrial. Printed alongside Evatt’s statement on the front page was one by the South Australian Police Association intended, it said, to inform the public "of the real facts". This statement claimed that Stuart was not illiterate and spoke "impeccable English". It also claimed that Stuart was legally classified as a white man and cited a record of offences that are not offences when committed by an Aboriginal person. It also recounted a trial in Darwin where Stuart had defended himself, personally cross-examined witnesses in English, and given evidence himself. O’Sullivan, Stuart's solicitor, wrote a reply refuting the Police Association claims; this was published the next day, citing the fact that Stuart’s police record included seven convictions for "Being an Aborigine, did drink liquor," and pointing out that the President of the Police Association was Detective Sgt. Paul Turner, the most senior of the six policemen who had obtained Stuart’s contested confession. The Law Society expressed outrage and stated that the Police Association statement bordered on contempt of court and would prejudice any jury hearing a future appeal. The Society strongly suggested the government fund a further appeal to the United Kingdom Privy Council. O’Sullivan was denied access to records of Stuart’s trials to check the English that Turner claimed Stuart had used, and the government also refused to prevent Turner from commenting publicly on the case. As a result, the Sunday Mail, then a joint enterprise of the News and Advertiser, printed prominently on its front page O’Sullivan's "suspicion" that the government was determined to hang Stuart and was supporting the Police Association in order to do so.

The Police Association statement, and later comments from Turner including that Stuart had conducted English classes for prisoners while in Alice Springs Goal, were widely condemned and are credited with prompting the appeal to the Privy Council, putting the Stuart case in the newspaper headlines, and keeping it there.

Two of the Commissioners appointed by Premier Playford, Chief Justice Mellis Napier and Justice Geoffrey Reed, had been involved in the case, Napier as presiding judge in the Full Court appeal and Reed as the trial judge, leading to considerable worldwide controversy, with claims of bias from sources such as the President of the Indian Bar Council, the Leader of the United Kingdom Liberal Party, Jo Grimond, and former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Australian Labor Party MP Don Dunstan asked questions in Parliament and played a major role in Premier Playford's decision to commute Stuart's sentence to life imprisonment. Playford's daughter, Dr Margaret Fereday, recalled arguing with him on the issue, calling him a murderer. Playford gave no reason for his decision, and the case was one of the principal events leading to the fall of the Playford government in 1965.

The News, edited by Rohan Rivett and owned by Rupert Murdoch, campaigned heavily against Stuart's death sentence. Because of the campaign through the News, Rivett, as editor, and the News itself, were charged in 1960 with seditious and malicious libel, with Premier Playford describing the coverage as the gravest libel ever made against any judge in this State. Dr John Bray, later Chief Justice and Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, represented Rivett. The jury determined that the defendants had not committed an offence, and the remaining charges were withdrawn. A few weeks later, Murdoch dismissed Rivett. Rivett had been Editor-in-Chief of the News since 1951.

It has been suggested that in Black and White, a 2002 film of the case, the role of Murdoch was magnified, and the part of his editor, Rivett, was minimised. However, it was noted in the Royal Commission that Murdoch wrote editorials, headlines and posters for the campaign. Murdoch himself believed Stuart guilty: "There's no doubt that Stuart didn't get a totally fair trial. Although it's probable that he was guilty, I thought this at the time. In those days - although less so now - I was very much against the death penalty." Bruce Page, Murdoch's biographer, said the case was pivotal in his career. "It was the very brief period of Rupert's radicalism, which was a very good thing for Stuart, as it got him out of the hangman's noose. Murdoch galloped into action, but it was a bad fight for him. The truth is it scared him off from ever taking on governments again. He reverted to his father's pattern of toeing the line."

Stuart says of Murdoch that "He done a good one in my case" and also, "He wanted the truth, you know. I could see him out in the court. I was with the policemen; my lawyer told me it was him."