Abstract:
A grainy series of surveillance photographs was tendered into evidence at the
trial of a young Aboriginal man accused of robbing a bank. Two police officers
testified that they recognised him from the photographs. On appeal to the High
Court of Australia, the judges thought that the hooded bandit in the image looked
like the spectre from Hamlet. This article uses the discourse of "spectrality" to
explore the consequences for law and ethics when haunted by the transgressive
image. It examines the confrontation between the foundational illegality of the
Australian nation, and the indigenous man who is accused of a crime against
property.
