Aboriginal woman fights trespass charge, cites 'cultural obligation'

Ruth Langford was protesting at a logging coupe in January 2025 when she was arrested. (Supplied: Bob Brown Foundation)

Aboriginal activist Ruth Langford/Tipruthanna has given evidence in a Hobart court to defend a trespass charge relating to a protest at a Tasmanian logging coupe in January 2025.

Ms Langford, who is representing herself, told the court she had a reasonable excuse to remain on the land due to her "cultural obligation".

The matter has been adjourned, and a further hearing will be held on September 24.

An Aboriginal activist fighting a trespass charge has told a court she has a cultural obligation to "protect lands that are being slaughtered".

Tasmanian-born Yorta Yorta/Dja Dja Wurrung woman Ruth Langford, also known as Tipruthanna, gave evidence in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday — the final day of a three-day hearing over allegations she trespassed in a logging coupe during a protest last year.

Ms Langford, who is self-representing in court, had initially requested the entire court matter be heard on country at Piyura Kitina/Risdon Cove in Hobart, however, her request was unsuccessful.

Ruth Langford is representing herself in court, after pleading not guilty to the trespass charge. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

In January 2025, Ms Langford was part of a group of activists who attended an anti-logging protest at a logging coupe, known as SH067C, at Snow Hill in Tasmania's northern midlands.

She has been accused of refusing police orders to leave the site, which resulted in her arrest and a charge of trespassing.

The protest was at Snow Hill, in Tasmania's Eastern Tiers. (ABC News: Paul Yeomans)

Ms Langford told the court she had arrived at the logging coupe with others in the early morning of January 21, 2025, "to uphold cultural obligation to protect country" and "to conduct a mourning ceremony".

She said that her cultural upbringing with "radical resistance fighters" involved in the 1980s campaign to stop the Franklin River being dammed, including Michael Mansell and Uncle Jim Everett, enlivened in her a "cultural understanding and respect for country".

Ms Langford also detailed the influence that her mother, Yorta Yorta woman and activist Rosalind Langford, had on helping her form her understanding of her cultural obligation to defend country.

"My mother really thought it was absolutely important that the community stood on the front line to assert our cultural law," she told the court.

Ms Langford said she had a reasonable excuse to remain on the land due to her cultural obligation, and her relationship to land