The 2004 Palm Island death in custody incident relates to the death of Palm Island, Queensland resident, Mulrunji on Friday, 19 November 2004 in a police cell. The death of Mulrunji led to civic disturbances on the island and a legal, political and media sensation that continued for three years culminating in the first time the Attorney General indicted an individual for a criminal trial since the public prosecutor's office was established and the first trial of an Australian police officer for a death in custody. The officer was acquitted by a jury in June 2007.
The series of controversies had broad implications for the Palm Island community and their relationship with Government and the broader Australian people.
Two legal questions arose from the death, firstly whether the taking into custody of Mulrunji was lawful and were the injuries that led to his death illegally caused by the arresting officer. Politically this event raised questions relating to the 1990 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and whether its recommendations to prevent deaths in custody had been implemented by Government.
Read more about 2004 Palm Island Death In Custody: The Death, Riot, Investigation, Police Union and Aboriginal Activists, Related Events, Timeline
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—Hawaiian saying no. 60, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)