Justice through a Coronial Inquest?
Join us from 1PM - 2PM (AEDT) on Tuesday the 6th of October for a conversation with Dr Latoya Aroha Rule from the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research and Apryl Day from The Dhadjowa Foundation about supporting families through the coronial process, and whether justice can ever be found within colonial systems. This conversation will be moderated by Dr Natalie Ironfield and Lauren Caulfield.
'Justice through a Coronial inquest?' is a fundraiser for the loved ones of Eimable Manirakiza, raising money to support them to attend his coronial inquest this year. You can also donate to the fundraiser directly via this link. Please also consider making a donation to the Dhadjowa Foundation to sustain their ongoing inquest work supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families whose loved ones have died in custody - you can do this here.
Dr Latoya Aroha Rule (Wiradjuri, Te Ātiawa - Māori & Norwegian) is a Research Fellow & Doctoral Supervisor, National Coalition Founder and Creative Practitioner based at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research, UTS. Driven by the decade-long fight for justice for their brother, Wayne Fella Morrison, who died following the event of spit hood and restraint asphyxia, they bring lived expertise to their research, inquest support work with impacted families, and creative works on Indigenous jurisprudence, anti-torture legislative reform, and therapeutic praxis. Dr Rule was part of the driving team and an author of the inaugural Federal Bench Book on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and the Legal System (2026), has co-led projects with international teams on the school-to-prison pipeline, has presented to the United Nations and Commonwealth parliamentary inquiries addressing justice for all peoples, especially First Nations people, and will soon release their first book 'Breathing and Other Acts of Resistance' (2028).
Apryl Day is a Yorta Yorta, Wemba Wemba, and Barapa Barapa woman, a multi-hyphenate advocate and creative known for her leadership in justice reform and community-led change. She led the successful campaign to decriminalise public drunkenness in Victoria, a historic win for Aboriginal communities. As the founder of the Dhadjowa Foundation, she continues to support families in their fight for justice, healing, and accountability. Apryl’s creative work is an extension of her lived experience and advocacy, using storytelling to honour community and culture. Through film, writing, and other creative expressions, she blends art and activism to celebrate the healing, resistance, joy and strength of her people. Apryl is a board member of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, a 2026 Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity and is a member of the Warriors for the Aboriginal Resistance.
Dr Natalie Ironfield is a Dharug scholar-organizer and educator living on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples. Natalie’s doctoral research examined how universities function as ongoing sites of racial and colonial violence, with a particular focus on the discipline of criminology. Since 2021, through the Dhadjowa Foundation and at the request of Aboriginal families who have lost their loved ones in custody, Natalie has worked alongside other community organisers to live report coronial inquests into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Natalie is employed as a Research Fellow at the Indigenous Futures Centre, is the Chairperson of the Institute Postcolonial Studies and over recent years has also worked on several community-led campaigns.
Loz is a community-based organiser and researcher based on Wurundjeri Country and working at the intersection of interpersonal and state-based racial and gender violence. Her work crosses community-led responses to violence, movement lawyering and narrative therapy. She is the coordinator of the Beyond Survival Project, co-author of ‘Harm in the Name of Safety,’ and the author of works including, ‘What will it take for a reckoning? Family violence and the harms of policing’ (included in the When Cops are Criminals anthology). She has directly supported Family-led campaigns for justice for loved ones killed in custody, including shared work documenting and reporting coronial inquests into Aboriginal deaths in custody and as a volunteer with the Dhadjowa Foundation.