Protection: 1890s - 1920
• What is it?
• Protection policies were introduced to spare
Aboriginal peoples from the effects of “White”
culture; alcohol, disease and social inequality.
• It was a paternalistic policy that treated the
Aboriginal people as children who needed looking
after
Protection
• Why was it introduced?
• Early colonial governments saw the Aboriginal race
as a ‘dying’ one. Protection was all about ensuring
the Aboriginal race had a ‘smooth pillow’ to die on.
• Hardships experienced by Aboriginal peoples in
white society saw them suffer from the effects of
alcohol, disease, dispossession of traditional lands
and impoverished communities. This policy aimed
at protecting Aboriginals from this.
Protection
• Impact on Aboriginal Peoples
• Areas of land were put aside or ‘reserved’ for
Aboriginal protection. These reserves were located
outside the view of white Australian society, usually
in outback regions, and were controlled by the
government or Christian churches.
• Government ‘Protection Boards’ and Church
missions became legal guardians of the Aboriginal
peoples giving them complete power and control
over their lives.
• Church missions aimed at converting Aboriginals to
Christianity to ‘civilise’ Aboriginal groups
A church run Mission
Protection in practice –
reserve life
• On the reserves Aboriginals were forbidden to
speak their native languages, practice their culture
or religious beliefs.
• Instead the English language, culture, lifestyle and
religious beliefs of the whites were enforced
• Food was limited resulting in illness and death
especially among infants
• Reserve managers (called Protectors) were
appointed to the reserves without qualification or
training
• They controlled the ‘comings and goings’ of the
Aboriginals on the reserves including where they
worked, any money obtain and marriages.
Assimilation: 1920 - 1960
• What is it?
• Assimilation was a government policy designed to
absorb Aboriginal people into white Australian
society
• Assimilation was aimed to make Aboriginal peoples
‘similar’ to white Australians.
• This would extend to their language, culture, beliefs,
clothing and manner of living
Assimilation
• Why was it introduced?
• The belief that the Aboriginal race was ‘dying out’
and doomed to extinction did not eventuate
• It became essential to find a new solution to the socalled ‘Aboriginal problem’
• The overall aim of assimilation was for the Aboriginal
race to be culturally mixed into white society and
ultimately to be genetically ‘bred out’ as a race.
Assimilation
• Impact on Aboriginal peoples
• This policy meant the loss of their culture, beliefs,
language and ultimately the destruction of family ties.
• To make this policy successful the government targeted
Aboriginal children that were of mixed blood, commonly
referred to as ‘half-castes’.
• The government believed that these children would
more readily learn and adapt to white culture. To
achieve this they were removed from their families on
the reserves and missions and sent to special ‘training’
schools, then fostered out to white families and homes.
• In this way they were not exposed to Aboriginal culture
and engulfed in white ways
• These children are collectively known as the ‘Stolen
Generations’
In training
homes like
this girls
were taught
skills to be
domestic
servants of
white
families
Integration: 1960 - 1972
• What was it?
• Integration was a policy that attempted to
incorporate Aboriginals into Australian society as
Aboriginal people.
• This enabled the Aboriginals to retain their own
culture, language, religion and identity.
• However they still had significant restrictions on their
lives
Integration
• Why was it introduced?
• Integration was adopted due to the failure of the
assimilation policy.
• The government also wanted to sell off the
‘valuable’ mineral rich reserve land to mining
companies
Integration
• Impact on Aboriginal peoples
• Aboriginals were given an identity and the practice of
removing children from their families stopped.
• With the selling of the reserve lands, the Aboriginals were
once again dispossessed, this time moving to low cost
housing in the suburbs with little health and education
facilities.
• Aboriginal reserve populations were scattered to not
upset the local white communities.
• The aboriginals were not happy with this as they wanted
to be close to their families and the land they had called
home for many decades
• As a result many returned to reserve sites living in
abandoned cars and making tents, once again
becoming fringe dwellers
Aboriginal fringe dwellers
displaced by integration
Self Determination
• What is it?
• After years of protesting and struggling for
recognition, the policy of Self Determination was
introduced by Prime Minister Gouge Whitlam in 1972
• This policy gave Aboriginals the right to choose their
own way of life.
• Equal human rights and privileges were granted to
Aboriginals
Self Determination
• Why was it introduced?
• This policy was created to allow aboriginals a say in
their future after years of it being controlled by
various governments and institutions
• The rights and freedoms granted to Aboriginals at
this time reflected international moral standards
Self Determination
• Impact on Aboriginal peoples
• Overall self determination granted the Aboriginal
people the right to choose their own destiny and
lifestyle
• This led to the creation of representative bodies
such as ATSIC, that gave Aboriginals a greater
ability to cater for the needs of their own people.
PAIST
• PROTECTION
• ASSIMILATION
• INTEGRATION
• SELF DETERMINATION
• TOWARDS RECONCILIATION