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Saltwater Kindle Edition

by Cathy McLennan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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‘Everyone knows that some of those kids are innocent … your dilemma is not whether the kids are innocent, but which of the kids are innocent.’When Cathy McLennan first steps into Townsville’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service as a young graduate she isn’t expecting a major murder case to land on her desk. The accused are four teenage boys whose family connections stretch across the water to Palm Island. As she battles to prove herself in the courtroom, Cathy realises that the truth is far more complex than she first thought. She starts to question who are the criminals and who are the victims.Saltwater tells the compelling story of one lawyer’s fight for justice amongst the beauty and the violence of this tropical paradise.

Length: 263 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Language: English

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Book Description

Saltwater tells the compelling story of one lawyer's fight for justice amongst the beauty and the violence of this tropical paradise. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Cathy McLennan is the winner of the 2014 Queensland Literary Award for Best Emerging Author and has written for the Courier Mail and the Townsville Bulletin. She has more than twenty years' experience in criminal law, from her early days working as a barrister for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service in North Queensland, to appearing in the High Court and deciding cases as a Queensland Magistrate. She has a Masters of Law and was the recipient of the 2015 Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Alumnus of James Cook University. Cathy is well known for her dedication to vulnerable Queenslanders. She lives with her husband and their two children. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN : B01IJ6X39G
Publisher : University of Queensland Press; 1st edition (10 August 2016)
Language : English
File size : 2296 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 263 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 136,147 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 26 in Lawyers & Judges Biographies
- 71 in Biographies of Lawyers & Judges
- 1,710 in Memoirs (Kindle Store)

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13 ratings

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Great read!

Reviewed in Australia on 17 May 2020

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Really interesting book about as part of indigenous Australia I didn’t know anything about. A real eye opener. A bit heartbreaking too - those poor kids.

One person found this helpful

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Sue Barnard

Heartbreaking, honest, horrific

Reviewed in Australia on 10 April 2017

Verified Purchase

A powerful story of the heartbreak that destroys the lives of so many indigenous Australians. An endless cycle of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual and physical abuse, lack of education, poor health and endless policy failures by those who should have the power to make real change.
This should be compulsory reading for every Australian.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A must read

Reviewed in Australia on 4 December 2016

Verified Purchase

This a one book everyone should read. If we all took a little time to care about those less fortunate that us, our world would be a better place.

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‘This is the last time this story will be told.’

Reviewed in Australia on 10 January 2020

Well, this may be the last time Ms McLennan tells this particular story, but similar stories are still being told. This book is based on Ms McLennan’s two-year period as a barrister for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service on Palm Island and in Townsville in the 1990s.

As a twelve-year-old, Ms McLennan and a group of year 7 classmates travel from Magnetic Island to Palm Island. She writes that:

‘This is the day that changes the course of my life.’

Ten years later, she is as a twenty-two-year-old barrister. And these are some of her experiences: a major murder case involving four teenaged boys, a young girl subjected to abuse. She writes about the impact of abuse, of neglect, of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, of a system failing to support those who need it. Ms McLennan mentions the beauty of Palm Island (and of Magnetic Island), and the violence that occurs there.

‘No point in teaching these kids. They’re past hope.’

I found this a difficult book to read. I kept turning the pages, hoping that things would improve. The subtitle of the book is ‘An Epic Fight for Justice in the Tropics’: it’s clearly a fight still underway. And in the meantime, more lives are blighted, ruined, destroyed. Ms McLennan is now a magistrate, and I wonder whether she’s been able to make more of a difference in that role?

It's unutterably sad to read about the challenges faced by some members of Aboriginal communities, and it is unbearable to read about the responses of those in authority. A vulnerable child returned to a community which has already harmed her. A baby left with an incompetent parent because ‘there’s nowhere else’. A mother doing her best, but not getting the support she needs.

I’ve had a copy of this book since 2017, after a friend read and reviewed it. I was reminded of it after reading a review critical of the book at the end of 2019 and now I’ve finally read it. I’d like to say that things are better, but I have family and friends who live in far North Queensland, and I know that’s not true. I’ve been to Townsville. It is a lovely city (if you are fortunate) but you don’t have to look to hard to see those who are not.

I feel saddened, and helpless.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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Awed

Incredible read. Book of the year

Reviewed in Australia on 18 August 2016

A truly gripping read. This book had me from start to finish. Raises so many questions I found myself thinking about the book during reading sessions. The author masterfully pens the book so it feels like a novel and this makes it all the more powerful to realise it is actually a TRUE STORY. I hope all Australians can read this book and hopefully we can start a conversation about how to help these kids.

3 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Highly recommend

Reviewed in Australia on 4 October 2016

I read this within a couple of days and couldn't put it down. Very compelling and well narrated. Being new to Townsville I knew very little of Palm Island. A great insight. Your left asking a lot of questions and it created a great discussion within our workplace! I hope the author continues to write.

2 people found this helpful

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Sarah P Dawkins

Five Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 1 September 2016

A real page-turner. A real eye-opener. A book that brings to light disturbing issues that deserve more awareness.

2 people found this helpful

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