It is undoubtedly true that the kind of family violence Professor Dodson was referring to, "domestic violence between partners, sexual violence against men, women and children alcohol and drug induced violence, and the sheer madness of communities … supporting clubs and wet canteens where alcohol related violence and dysfunction dominate the rhythms of life for that traumatises entire families everyone”, “violence and communities that is sometimes referred to as community ‘dysfunctional syndrome’, where people are traumatised even by association and the knowledge of, and the witnessing of acts of have been part of the culture or customary violence” could never law of any people, and could never be excused by appeals to culture or custom. However, to the extent that such statements imply that violence within the family was never part of traditional Aboriginal culture, or that there is to no “cultural” component the present epidemic of violence, it is contradicted by ethnographic studies, and the strong beliefs of some contemporary Aboriginal people. Of course the traditional laws of different Aboriginal societies are and were different, but there are common themes. In Peter Sutton quotes a number of references to violence as The Politics of Suffering, an aspect of traditional culture in various parts of Australia at the time of first contact. He refers to of formal pitched battles, skirmishes and “frontier accounts” “sneak attacks by night resulting in a substantial number of in north– east Arnhem Land in casualties” the first part of the 20th century, and to of formalised large– scale Stanner’s descriptions fights in the Daly River area in the 1930s, as well as and cutting– out “raids, ambushes expeditions for which the young bloods had a the latter referring to liking” – raids. Sutton cites early contact reports of and “widespread frequent” domestic violence among traditional Aboriginal people in other parts of Australia and quotes in which he described a wife Bronislaw Malinowski’s 1913 study ‘standard’ husband– relationship in these terms: a nearly unlimited authority, and in some cases, when he had “The husband ‘had special reasons (and undoubtedly deemed himself to be within his rights), he might use his authority for a very brutal and severe chastisement.”
It is undoubtedly true that the kind of family violence Professor Dodson was referring to, "domestic violence between partners, sexual violence against men, women and children … alcohol and drug induced violence, and the sheer madness of communities supporting clubs and wet canteens where alcohol related violence and dysfunction dominate the rhythms of life for everyone”, “violence that traumatises entire families and communities that is sometimes referred to as ‘dysfunctional community syndrome’, where people are traumatised even by association and the knowledge of, and the witnessing of acts of violence” could never have been part of the culture or customary law of any people, and could never be excused by appeals to culture or custom. However, to the extent that such statements imply that violence within the family was never part of traditional Aboriginal culture, or that there is no “cultural” component to the present epidemic of violence, it is contradicted by ethnographic studies, and the strong beliefs of some contemporary Aboriginal people. Of course the traditional laws of different Aboriginal societies are and were different, but there are common themes. In The Politics of Suffering, Peter Sutton quotes a number of references to violence as an aspect of traditional culture in various parts of Australia at the time of first contact. He refers to “frontier accounts” of formal pitched battles, skirmishes and “sneak attacks by night resulting in a substantial number of casualties” in north– east Arnhem Land in the first part of the 20th century, and to Stanner’s descriptions of formalised large– scale fights in the Daly River area in the 1930s, as well as “raids, ambushes and cutting– out expeditions for which the young bloods had a liking” – the latter referring to raids. Sutton cites early contact reports of “widespread and frequent” domestic violence among traditional Aboriginal people in other parts of Australia and quotes Bronislaw Malinowski’s 1913 study in which he described a ‘standard’ husband– wife relationship in these terms: “The husband ‘had a nearly unlimited authority, and in some cases, when he had special reasons (and undoubtedly deemed himself to be within his rights), he might use his authority for a very brutal and severe chastisement.”