When Cameron Doomadgee was found dead in the Palm Island police station, his injuries were like those of someone who’d been in a fatal car crash.



The police claimed he had tripped on a step. The Palm Islanders rioted and burnt down the police station. The subsequent trial of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley – who had been decorated for his work in Aboriginal communities – made headlines day after day, shadowed by Queensland police threatening to strike.

The Tall Man is a tragic true crime story. It tells the gripping story of the trial, of the complex Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, and of the Doomadgee family as they struggle to understand what happened to their brother.

Atmospheric, gritty and original, The Tall Man takes the viewer into the courtroom, into the once notorious Queensland police force, and into the Indigenous community of Palm Island in Australia’s far north – a place where people live lives like no other, have a relationship with the land like no other, and a history, culture and a catastrophic present like no other.

This is Australia, but an Australia few of us have seen.

Based on the award winning book by Chloe Hooper.


“A fascinating work... irresistibly compelling” Daily Telegraph
“Deeply disturbing” The Age
“★★★★1/2” At The Movies
"One of the most explosive stories of our time" Margaret Pomeranz