Changing government policies towards Aboriginal peoples over
time. Protection, Assimilation, Integration, Self- determination
Aboriginal Australia Changing Rights and Freedoms
Slide 2
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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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...
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Assimilation
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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
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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:
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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 Millers oral history record, 1982
Slide 22
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
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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
Slide 24
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.
Slide 25
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
Slide 26
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
Slide 27
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.
Slide 28
Self-Determination Imparja Television is an Aboriginal- owned
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.
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Self-Determination Indigenous Business Australia is a
government agency which assists and enhances Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander self- management 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%).
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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
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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
Slide 32
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.'Kevin RuddStolen GenerationsThe apology
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Policies Changing Rights and freedomsContinuity and change
Rights education, health, representation, choice of religion,
culture, shelter, food Freedoms speech, choice, movement,
relationships CPERMS How have things stayed the same continuity How
have things changed - change