Max Stuart

Rupert Maxwell (Max) Stuart (c. 1932[notes 1] – 21 November 2014[1]) was an Indigenous Australian who was convicted of murder in 1959. His conviction was subject to several appeals to higher courts,[2][3] the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and a Royal Commission,[4] all of which upheld the verdict. Newspapers campaigned successfully against the death sentence being imposed. After serving his sentence, Stuart became an Arrernte elder and from 1998 till 2001 was the chairman of the Central Land Council.[5] In 2002, a film was made about the Stuart case.


Cite error: There are <ref group=notes> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=notes}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Amos Aikman (2014). "Death of Max Stuart". Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  2. ^ R v Stuart [1959 SASR 144, Supreme Court (SA).
  3. ^ Stuart v R [1959] HCA 27, (1959) 101 CLR 1, High Court (Australia)
  4. ^ "Report of the Royal Commission in regard to Rupert Max Stuart" (PDF). 3 December 1959. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 March 2018 – via Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
  5. ^ J. Churches (2002). "MS 3764 Father Dixon and the Stuart Case". Manuscript finding aids. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) www.aiatsis.gov.au. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 21 February 2006.