In January 1985 I travelled to Darwin to appear as an expert witness
for the Northern Land Council in the Upper Daly land claim. While
awaiting another expert (on potatoes!) to complete his lengthy evidence,
several days were spent nervously shuffling through documents,
in unsettling view of the hotel's palmy pool. More than ready
to be cross-examined, I was glad to be in the witness stand at last.
But my seat was hardly warm when counsel for the objectors asked
that the Land Commissioner rule my historical submission inadmissable.
This was on the grounds that the oral history material
included was ' rank hearsay' . I was outraged; is this what lawyers
think of oral history