A Barrister's Blog
The Lighter Side of Law
by Paul Cutler
Skylab
In the early hours of 12 July 1979, Skylab (NASA’s first space station) fell out of orbit and crashed to earth. Although it scattered wreckage in an arc over the Indian Ocean parts of it came to rest at Balladonia in Western Australia. That would be Balladonia, population 14, which is located 900+ km east of Perth (i.e. out in the desert).
I have recently returned from a road trip holiday (I drove to Perth). In my travels, I stayed overnight at the Balladonia Roadhouse and visited the small onsite museum which has some Skylab memorabilia. I had heard stories which I didn’t believe, that the local shire council issued a littering fine to NASA for the mess that their space station created. It turns out those stories are true! It’s my photo of the infringement notice which appears with this post. Apparently it’s also true that US President Carter personally called the Roadhouse and offered to make good any damage caused by the falling Skylab (there wasn’t any).
The infringement notice was personally handed to a NASA representative when they visited Balladonia. This apparently caused a good natured “diplomatic incident”. The fine was never paid.
Emu Wars
In November 1932, the Commonwealth government received (and acceded to) a peculiar request for assistance from WA wheat farmers whose crops were being damaged by emus. A succinct summary is in the speech by Senator Sir George Pearce given on 18 November 1932 (see...
Etiquette
Wilson v Department of Human Services – re Anna [2010] NSWSC 1489 was a particularly nasty case in the parens patriae jurisdiction of the NSW Supreme Court which has become better known for the comments of Palmer J about misplaced courtesy in court: 106 The second...
The Immigrant
It usually takes clear statutory words before a court will interpret legislation as taking away fundamental common law rights. This is known as the principle of legality which in Australia can be traced back to Potter v Minahan (1908) 7 CLR 277. Briefly: "When James...
The Sunbather
The very act of being arrested is at least in part punitive. It involves being removed to a police station, being detained, searched, fingerprinted and questioned. It is not surprising that the common law position (which is also reflected in the Crimes Act) is that...
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