Robert Bropho

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Robert Bropho (born 1930) is an indigenous Australian activist in Perth, Western Australia. He was leader of the Swan Valley Nyungah Community settlement for over 40 years. He organised the protest against redevelopment of the Swan Brewery, and was involved in the repatriation of Yagan's head. In 1986, he published Fringedweller.

In 2003, the Swan Valley Nyungah Community settlement was closed amidst claims of widespread sexual abuse, rape and substance abuse, after a 15 year old girl named Susan Taylor committed suicide. Taylor's mother, Lena Spratt, accused Bropho of sexual misconduct against herself and her daughter. In September 2004, Bropho was found not guilty of two charges of raping a teenage girl nearly thirty years before, after a judge ruled inadmissible DNA evidence that alleged Bropho to be 3,134 times more likely to be the father of the woman's child than a random person. In December 2005, he was found guilty of indecently dealing with a girl under the age of thirteen, and sentenced to twelve months' jail. On January 30, 2006, he was be tried on a similar set of charges relating to another young girl who lived at the settlement, but apparently acquitted. His appeal against his conviction was rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeal in June 2006.

[edit] References

Clark, Tim (2006) Bropho jailed for indecently assaulting 13-year-old, National Indigenous Times, Issue 95, January 21, 2006.
Granath, Natasha (2005) Bropho guilty of sex abuse at Swan camp, The West Australian, 23 December 2005.