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White-Aboriginal Relations in Western Australia: An Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

P. Biskup
Affiliation:
Administrative College of Papua and New Guinea

Extract

This article is an attempt to survey, in a thematic fashion, the history of whiteaboriginal relations in Western Australia. Although it is based on research into the period from 1897 to 1954,1 the author believes that the more recent developments have not basically affected the validity of the comments here presented. He is also convinced that, speaking broadly, they are applicable to the Australian scene as a whole. The article should therefore be of interest to the students of white-aboriginal relations anywhere in Australia.

Type
Social Tensions
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1968

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References

1 Native Administration and Welfare in Western Australia 1897–1954, M.A. Thesis, University of Western Australia, 1965Google Scholar

2 Observer (Sydney), 13 June 1959.

3 Stanner, W.E.H., “Continuity and Change Among the Aborigines”, Australian Journal of Science, 12 1958, p.P. 104.Google Scholar

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5 Hasluck, P., Black Australians: A Survey of Native Policy in Western Australia, 1829–1897 (Melbourne, 1942), p. 57.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., p. 58.

8 See Grey, G., Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, 2 vols. (London, 1841), vol. 2, pp. 373–88.Google Scholar

9 Bates, D.M., The Passing of the Aborigines (London, 1938), p. 67.Google Scholar

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11 Rowley, C.D., “Aborigines and Other Australians”, Oceania, 06 1962, p. 249.Google Scholar

12 Doughty, J., The Green Stick (London, 1960), p. 124.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., p. 17.

14 Rowley, , “Aborigines and Other Australians”, p. 249Google Scholar. Note, however, John Wilson's comment that while mass reprisals (in the north-west) were thought deplorable, especially when children were shot by the settlers, they were partially excused on the grounds that members of both cultures were “wild old fellows”. The atrocities were not resented so much as being “knocked back”, that is the refusal by the station owners of clothing, tobacco and other amenities. (Authority and Leadership in a ‘New-Style’ Australian Aboriginal Community: Pindan, Western Australia, M.A. Thesis, University of Western Australia, 1961, p. 36.)Google Scholar

15 Stanner, , “Continuity and Change Among the Aborigines”, p.P. 101.Google Scholar

16 At least two inquiries into the native problem can be attributed to this criticism. See Report of Royal Commission on the Conditions of Natives, Parl. Paper 5/1905, and Report of the Royal Commission Appointed to Investigate, Report and Advise upon Matters in Relation to the Condition and Treatment of Aborigines, Parl. Paper 2/1935.

17 The aborigines' right of access to their tribal grounds was acknowledged by the 1864 Land Regulations (Government Gazette, 24 August 1864) and the 1898 Land Act.

18 Elkin, A.P., “Reaction and Interaction: A Food Gathering People and European Settlement in Australia”, American Anthropologist, 1951, p. 168.Google Scholar

19 An extract from a letter written in 1915 to the Minister of Education by John Kickett, a Quairading mixed-blood, speaks for itself. Kickett complained that his children were not allowed to attend the local school, although his member of Parliament had promised that they would be allowed to enrol “proveiding I lived as a white man and I looked after my children. Now Sir I am farmeing I have 200 acres of land and Trying to make a liveing out of it … I was teached at a State school and don't want to see my children degraded”. Three years later Kickett wrote to the local member of Parliament: “I want a Little Fair Play if you will Be so Kind Enough to see on my Beharfe … I have five of my People in France Fighting Since you were her for your Election one has been Killed which leaves four … as my people are Fighting for our King and Country Sir I think they should have the liberty of going to any State school.” (Education Department File 4259/1914.)

20 Report on Survey of Native Affairs by F.E.A.Bateman, Part. Paper 19/1948.

21 Moola Bulla, Violet Valley and Munja, established in 1910, 1911 and 1926 respectively. Violet Valley was closed in 1940, Munja in 1949, while Moola Bulla was sold to private interests in 1955.

22 Quoted, in translation, in Emerson, R., From Empire to Nation (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), p. 428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Reay, , Aborigines Now, viii.Google Scholar

24 Hancock, W.K., Australia (Brisbane, 1964), p. 59.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., p. 61.

26 Ibid., p. 60.

27 In 1852 some of the duties of the guardians of aborigines (the office was created in 1840 and abolished in 1855) were transferred to native “governors” or “kings” who were appointed as an “influence for the maintenance of order”. One of the best known “kings” was King Billy of Geraldton whose “investiture” by Governor Weld has been recorded by Mitchell, S. in Looking Backward (Geraldton, 1911).Google Scholar

28 Wilson, , Authority and Leadership in a ‘New-Style’ Australian Aboriginal Community: Pindan, Western Australia, p. 73.Google Scholar

29 See Royal Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Killing and Burning of Bodies of Aborigines in East Kimberley and into Police Methods when Effecting Arrests, Parl. Paper 3/1927.

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45 Taft, Ronald, “A Psychological Model For the Study of cial Assimilation”, Human Relations, 1957, p. 154.Google Scholar

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51 Ibid., p.P. 104.

52 Barnard, M., A History of Australia (Sydney, 1962), p. 666.Google Scholar