General overview: This book chapter presents an academic analysis of the power relationships between Aboriginal women and the State, and between Aboriginal women and Aboriginal men.

Objective: This chapter seeks to show that violence within Australian Aboriginal communities does not stem from traditional indigenous culture but rather from the violence of colonisation against the Aboriginal people and its damaging psychological effects over the past 200 years. It examines the historical role of violence in Aboriginal culture as well as the violence perpetrated by the State against Aboriginal people, to determine the causes of rampant levels of domestic violence in Aboriginal communities.

The chapter notes that violence as a part of Indigenous traditional law is very measured and invoked only as a penalty for serious crimes, bearing no relationship to the random and widespread violence that causes Aboriginal women to be in constant fear. Aboriginal women are no longer prepared to accept the excuse that violence stems from traditional law or the abuse of alcohol. The author argues that black men are subjected to violence from white society and are equally at risk as black women but from sources external to their own community.

Conclusions: Aboriginal women must clarify the various dimensions and levels of power that they are subjected to in their lives (whether from the State or from Aboriginal men) and that these dimensions must be made explicit before the problem of Aboriginal violence can be addressed.