Death in Yuendumu

A dead man. A young cop. A black and white divide.

Steven Schubert

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

ABC
01 June 2025

Biography; True crime; Violence in society; Social discrimination; Rural communities; Indigenous peoples

Where everything is black and white and nothing is - a haunting true story of death and a search for justice in a remote outback community

Just hours after his grandfather's funeral in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu, nineteen-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker was dead. He'd been shot three times by police constable Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest, after Walker had stabbed the officer in the shoulder with a pair of surgical scissors.

Three days later, Rolfe was charged with murder, the first time a police officer had been charged for killing a First Nations person in the Northern Territory in 130 years. Following Rolfe's acquittal, a coronial inquest was called, where Rolfe made sensational allegations about institutional racism within the police force.

In Death in Yuendumu, the ABC journalist who broke the story gives a clear-eyed account of the failed systems that led to this tragedy. Steven Schubert recounts the tragic and disturbing tale of a young Indigenous man with a difficult past and uncertain future; an ex-military policeman who became mired in allegations of misconduct; a family in mourning; and a community fighting for justice.

Death in Yuendumu is powerful, haunting, riveting and unforgettable - it describes a world in which everything is black and white, and yet nothing is.

By: Steven Schubert
Imprint: ABC
Country of Publication: Australia
ISBN: 9780733342431
ISBN 10: 0733342434
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Steven Schubert is an award-winning journalist based in Alice Springs. He has spent most of his career as a reporter working in remote northern Australia, including in Mount Isa and Katherine. Author of the book Mandatory Murder about the case of Zak Grieve, Steven won the NT Journalist of the Year Award in 2018 for his reporting of that case and a series of features looking at police investigations into Indigenous murders in the Northern Territory. His book about the murder of Kumanjayi Walker during an arrest at Yuendumu in remote NT will be published in 2025.