Aboriginal Australia
Changing Rights and Freedoms
Changing government policies towards Aboriginal
peoples over time.
Protection, Assimilation, Integration, Selfdetermination
The Policies
For policy you will need to answer the following;
 What was the policy – definition
 Time period
 Features of the policy
 Consequences
 Why abandoned (if relevant)
 Evidence
Protection
 There were many well-meaning people who, through a sense
of moral conviction or religious faith saw it as their duty to
help Aboriginal people.
 Paternalism is the practice of treating a group of people like a
parent would treat a child. This is how indigenous people
were treated in the period to the 1950s under the policy of
“Protection”
 A government policy
controlling all aspects of
Indigenous peoples’ lives
Protection
 The policy aimed to;
 Separate Aboriginal people from white people for their own good
 Put Aboriginal people onto government reserves or religious
missions. In 1883 the Aboriginal Protection Board was set up to
manage the reserves. There were 114 in NSW by 1894.
 No respect given to indigenous languages, cultures or spirituality
Protection
 From 1857 to 1911, the Australian Aborigines were officially
regarded as a dying race.
 The large number of deaths resulted from massacres, loss of
land, food supplies, diseases – small pox, measles, whooping
cough and influenza.
 Malnutrition and appalling living conditions also lowered the
birth rate.
Protection
 Life under the policy
 Aboriginal people could not leave a reserve and go into town





or marry, or get employment without permission
Could not own property
Were paid ‘in kind’ for work done – not in money
Could not speak own language or practise traditional
ceremonies
Could not have or control money or personal possessions
Mission education was basic and aimed at converting to
Christianity
Protection
Aborigines Protection Act 1909
(NSW)
“There shall be a board for the
protection of Aborigines and it will
be headed by the Inspector-General
of Police.
The duties of the board will be to:
 Control the money for assisting
Aborigines
 Distribute blankets and clothing to
Aborigines
 Have custody of Aboriginal children
and educate them
 Manage Reserves
 Supervise all matters affecting
Aborigines”
Aborigines Act 1886 (Vic)
“The Governor in Council may
make regulations and orders;For prescribing the place where
any aboriginal or any tribe of
aboriginals may reside...
For the care custody and education
of the children of aboriginals...
All bedding, clothing and other
articles issued or distributed to
the aboriginals...shall be
considered on loan only, and
shall remain the property of his
Majesty...”
Protection
 Many Reserves were closed down and land given to white
farmers –WWI Soldier Settlement
 Aboriginal people were resettled without consultation – lost
all links and ties to their land and families
 Indigenous people were not dying out
Protection
"We do not ask for your protection. No thanks!We
have had 150 years of that!We our only ask for
justice, decency and fair play. Do not be guided by
religious and scientific persons...let the Aborigines
themselves tell you what they want."
William Ferguson & Jack Patten
26 January 1938, Australian Hall, Sydney
Day of Mourning and Protest
Assimilation
 A policy that encouraged indigenous




people and migrants to take on
Australian ways and customs.
Had to move away from traditional
life, culture and thinking, and adopt
white ways
The 1951 Assimilation Conference
confirmed this policy
The policy of removing mixed-blood
children from Indigenous
communities continued right up until
the late 1960s – aimed at assimilation
The main supported was Paul
Hasluck – Territories Minister.
Assimilation
(a)From the 1961 Native Welfare Conference: All
Aborigines and part-Aborigines are expected eventually
to attain the same manner of living as other Australians
and to live as members of single Australian community
enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the
same responsibilities, observing the same customs and
influenced by the same beliefs, hopes and loyalties as other
Australians.
(b)From the 1965 Aboriginal Welfare Conference:
The policy of Assimilation seeks that all persons of
Aboriginal decent will choose to attain a similar manner
and standard of living to that of other Australians and live
as members of a single Australian Community.
Assimilation
 It was possible for an Indigenous person to receive a certificate
from the government indicating that he or she had rejected
traditional ways and had adopted white ways.
 Aboriginal people called it a “dog licence” or a “beer ticket” as
the certificate enabled a person to be able to drink in a pub.
Assimilation
Assimilation
Assimilation
The forced removal of children from their families took
place under the regulations and guidelines of the
Assimilation Policy.
"We have power under the act to take any child from its
mother at any stage of its life... Are we going to have a
population of one million blacks in the Commonwealth
or are we going to merge them into our white
community and eventually forget that there were ever
any Aborigines [sic?] in Australia?"
A O Neville, Chief Protector of Aborigines, WA
Native Welfare Conference, 1937
Quoted 'Sorry', Sydney Morning Herald 30 May 1998,
p.41
Assimilation
David Hollinsworth in his book Race and Racism in
Australia, quotes:
"Generally by the fifth and invariably by the sixth
generation, all native characteristics of the
Australian aborigine are eradicated. The problem
of our half-castes will quickly be eliminated by the
complete disappearance of the black race, and the
swift submergence of their progeny in the white."
Dr. Cecil Cook, NT Chief Protector 1927-39:
Assimilation
MOREE, Saturday. - Mob violence exploded
here today as student freedom riders were
attacked by a crowd crazed with race hate.
White women spat on girl students and
screamed filthy words as the students tried to
win Aboriginal children admission to the town
baths.
Several people were arrested and the town's
mayor, Alderman William Lloyd, pitched into
the battle, grabbing students by the scruff of
their necks and hurling them out of the way.
Throughout the fighting a barrage of eggs and
rotten fruit rained on the students.
Mr Jim Spigelman, a 19-year-old student from
Maroubra, was smacked to the ground while the
500 strong crowd roared its approval.
February 21, 1965
Assimilation
 The policy did not work;
 Indigenous people and migrants did not want to disregard their




culture
Indigenous leaders, the Labor Party and churchmen were now
suggesting that the policy should be abandoned
Many Aboriginal people were forced off reserves into towns or
cities – some set up fringe camps on the outskirts of towns
Assimilation forced Aboriginal people into abandoning traditional
values and community life – it did little to help them
Although it offered opportunities – it came at the cost of
destroying traditional Aboriginal life
Assimilation
 While espousing the benefits of assimilation to Aboriginal
people, the policy still denied their basic rights, even in the
1960s.
 It stopped them from raising their own children, stopped
freedom of movement, having access to education, receiving
award wages, marrying without permission, eating in
restaurants, entering a pub, swimming in a public pool or
having the right to vote.
Assimilation
 'We are different hearts and minds
In a different body. Do not ask of us
To be deserters, to disown our mother,
To change the unchangeable.
The gum cannot be trained into an oak.
Something is gone, something surrendered, still
We will go forward and learn.
Not swamped and lost, watered away, but keeping
Our own identity, our pride of race.‘
 Assimilation-No! Oodgeroo
Assimilation
“The common saying of the staff [to
the Aboriginal girls taken to the
Cootamundra Domestic Training
Home for Aboriginal Girls] was
“live like a white person”...They
were making us white – think
white – look white – act white.
[We were told] “there is a good
chance that you will marry a white
man and your children will be
lighter...and their children will be
lighter until they are completely
white.””
Kathleen Miller’s oral history record,
1982
Integration
 Policy of acceptance of migrant and Indigenous




cultures, but with a desire for these groups to
become Australian
Governments now tolerated the traditional
culture of indigenous people and accepted its
coexistence with white cultures.
It recognised that Assimilation had failed
Formally instituted at the 1965 Aboriginal
Welfare Conference.
Integration recognised Indigenous culture, and
allowed for Indigenous people to express their
cultural identity
Integration
“In time...[the assimilation] policy came under attack, with critics
pointing to its denial of aboriginal culture, the arrogant
assumption of the superiority of the white culture, and the
dependency that it helped engender. For a time, ‘integration’
became Commonwealth policy, though it was difficult to detect
the differences between ‘assimilation’ and ‘integration’. With
attitudes this changing – though not in Queensland, which
remained determinedly assimilationist in its approach until well
into the 1980s – the other State governments began to reform
many of the laws that denied Aborigines equality with the rest of
the Australian community.”
Scott Bennett, White Politics and White Australians, 1999
Self-Determination
 Policy allowing Indigenous people
a say in policies affecting them.
 With the election of the Whitlam
government in 1972, there was a
shift in policy towards Indigenous
people.
 Aimed to end paternalistic
attitudes and practices, to remove
notions of racial superiority and to
allow Indigenous people to have a
say in policies that affected them.
Self-Determination
In 1990 the Australian government
established the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Commission (ATSIC). The
government body formally involved
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
in the processes of government affecting their
lives.
In the early 2000s the ATSIC became more
and more embroiled in controversy over its
finances, powers and the activities of its last
chair.
In March 2005 the Howard government
succeeded in abolishing the ATSIC
Self-Determination
Nearly five years after the
abolition of the ATSIC the Australian
government announced that it
would support a new national
representative body for Aboriginal
Australians.
The National Congress of
Australia's First Peoples emerged
from a series of Aboriginal
community meetings throughout the
country, peak body talks, a national
forum and written submissions
Tom Calma
Self-Determination
A new national Indigenous representative body will be called the
National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. Social Justice
Commissioner Calma, who has convened the independent Indigenous
Steering Committee since December 2008, announced the name after
the Federal Government confirmed it had accepted the
recommendations of the Committee's report, Our future in our hands, and
agreed to initial funding of the organisation until December 2013.
Commissioner Calma said that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples have been without a representative voice for too long.
He said that setting up the new body was a monumental task that would
require a development phase until the end of 2010. The Government is
providing $29 million over four years for the policy and an advocacy
body which will not be delivering programs and services.
Self-Determination
Imparja Television is an Aboriginalowned broadcasting station in Alice
Springs, NT, operating since June 1988. Its
services include National Indigenous
Television (NITV) which was launched in
mid-2007, and eight Aboriginal radio
stations [3].
Nine Imparja has the largest broadcast area
in Australia, covering 3.6 million square
kilometres across six states and territories
with an estimated audience of 430,000
people. It comes free-to-air and competes
with the national market for advertising
revenue.
Self-Determination
Indigenous Business Australia is a government agency which
assists and enhances Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander selfmanagement and economic self-sufficiency and
advances the commercial and economic interests of Indigenous people by
accumulating and using capital assets.
One of the tasks of IBA is to help Aboriginal people achieve home
ownership. In 2001 Indigenous home ownership was at 32% while the
national non-Indigenous average was 68% [1]. IBA wants to raise this rate
to 40%. In 2008 its customers come from NSW (29%), QLD (27%), NT
(16%), VIC (10%) and WA (8%).
Self-Determination
 Features of Self-Determination included;
 Instead of white authorities handing down decisions – these was a




process of consultation.
Gradually more indigenous people would take on positions of
responsibility and decision-making
Indigenous people would be allowed to choose how to live their
lives
They would receive the same rights and freedoms as other
Australians
Many argue that events like the shutting down of ATSIC (2005)
and The Northern Territory Intervention (2007) signalled the end
of this policy
Self-Determination
Many Australian governments have been quick to determine what's
'best' for Aboriginal people failing to consult them in the process.
But "initiatives developed on the ground, by the people for the
people, have a far greater likelihood of working. It's a model for
self-determination," says Linda Burney, NSW Community
Services Minister and Wiradjuri woman
"We've settled our governance arrangements by ourselves; it's been
many years of work by people who have been prepared to put
their differences aside and work together on shared goals. The fact
that we've taken ownership of the problem is 50 per cent of the
solution," adds Sam Jeffries, head of the Murdi Paaki community
leader group
We are the people we've been waiting for. —Mary Victor O'Reeri,
Aboriginal community of Billard, Western Australia
Reconciliation
 On the 13th of February 2008, the Prime Minister, Kevin
Rudd, tabled a motion in parliament apologising to
Australia's Indigenous peoples, particularly the Stolen
Generations and their families and communities, for laws
and policies which had 'inflicted profound grief, suffering
and loss on these our fellow Australians.' The apology
included a proposal for a policy commission to close the
gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in
'life expectancy, educational achievement and economic
opportunity.'
Policies
Changing Rights and
freedoms
Continuity and change
 Rights – education, health,
 How have things stayed the
representation, choice of
religion, culture, shelter,
food
 Freedoms – speech,
choice, movement,
relationships
 CPERMS
same – continuity
 How have things changed change