This episode of Read the Play is a heavy one, but it is vital listening if we are to properly understand the stakes of Indigenous Critical Race Theory in this moment. In this episode, Chelsea & David return to Indigenist Health Humanities to understand the violence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience within colonial health settings.  

First up, you’ll hear a powerful interview with Gamilaroi Dunghatti man, Uncle Rick Hampson, who shares the harrowing story of his fight for justice for his son, Dougie Hampson. Dougie died in preventable circumstances at the Dubbo Hospital in 2021, and his family have been fighting ever since to hold the institutions and individuals responsible for his death to account.

In this conversation, recorded just before the coronial inquest into Dougie’s death in 2024, Uncle Rick talks about the role of racism in his son’s death, and their ongoing struggle to hold the hospital accountable. We end this episode with a sobering reminder from Metis & Duck Bayand Lake Manitoba First Nations man, Dr. Barry Lavallee, speaking at the 2025 National Symposium Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Practice. Dr. Lavallee reminds us that whether here in so-called australia, or on the lands claimed by Canada and the United States, it is no accident when Indigenous people experience violence in colonial health systems. Rather, he argues, these systems are operating precisely as they were designed, to ensure the premature death, ill-health, and eventual disappearance of Indigenous peoples.  

Reading list

Watego, Chelsea, David Singh, George Newhouse, Helena Kajlich, and Ricky Hampson Snr. ‘“I Catch the Pattern Of Your Silence”’. Meanjin Spring 2022, no. Is it just me? (2022). https://meanjin.com.au/essays/i-catch-the-pattern-of-your-silence/
CCPA Manitoba, dir. Speaking Up Nov 10, 2022 with Dr. Barry Lavallee. 2022. 39:50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRDyuay6O50

Credits

Recordings and Production: Some of the podcast materials are drawn from Triple A Murri Country’s Let’s Talk Black Politics and Black Knowing, recorded in the studio between 2023-2024, hosted by Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr David Singh in addition to excerpts from QUT Carumba Institute’s National Symposium Unifying Anti-racism Research and Practice, all of which were produced by Anna Carlson.

Music: We wish to sincerely thank Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra for granting permission for free use of ‘Live, Laugh, Decolonise’ and ‘Eat the World’  

Production & Sound Design: BlakCast Productions

Artwork: graphic by Rachel Apelt, Artbalm.

This podcast was supported (partially) by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Discovery Indigenous Projects funding scheme (project IN210100008). The views expressed herein are those of the presenters and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council.

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