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Book Cover
Book
Author Austin, Tony, 1943-

Title Never trust a government man : Northern Territory Aboriginal policy 1911-1939 / Tony Austin
Published Darwin : NTU Press, 1997

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  305.89915 Aus/Nta  DUE 03-05-24
Description ix, 336 pages ; 25 cm
Contents 1. Creating the inferior race -- 2. False start in Capricornia: the first Protectors -- 3. The Gilruth years: a betrayal -- 4. Policy Hiatus in the 1920s -- 5. The Bleakley Report -- 6. A progressive in Capricornia: Chief Protector C.E. Cook -- 7. Cook, policy and the missions -- 8. Breeding out the colour: Cook and the 'half-castes' -- 9. Reform of the law -- 10. Protection in practice -- 11. 1937
Summary This book is a history of the administration of Aboriginal affairs by the Commonwealth Government in the Northern Territory in the period to the Second World War. It provides a detailed account of the development of government policy in the areas of justice, employment, missionary activities and welfare. Government activities are set in the context of white racism in the North and in the nation's capital. The book shows that Aboriginal people had good reason not to trust government men. They were deprived, in the name of protection, of the civil liberties and welfare assistance that non-Aboriginal Australians could take for granted. They knew better than to expect fair treatment by most police officers, or in the courts, or in the workplace. They successfully opposed constant attempts to deprive them of their Aboriginal identity. Yet during the period covered by this book, there was a very gradual improvement in their treatment. A small number of northern officials and southern politicians quietly, often timorously, rarely vigorously, urged a modicum of fairness, while vociferous southern humanitarian groups exerted pressure on the Commonwealth Government out of all proportion to their small membership. This book will be of interest to the general reader and to students of Australian history as well as those concerned with matters of social justice for Aboriginal people
Analysis Aborigines
Discrimination
History
Legal standing
Northern Territory
Race relations
Social conditions
State issue
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Bibliography: pages 315-328
Subject Aboriginal Australians -- Government policy -- Australia -- Northern Territory.
Aboriginal Australians -- Government policy.
Aboriginal Australians -- Government relations.
Aboriginal Australians -- Treatment -- Australia -- Northern Territory.
Aboriginal Australians -- Australia -- Northern Territory -- Government relations.
Aboriginal Australians -- Australia -- Northern Territory.
Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of -- Australia -- Northern Territory.
SUBJECT Northern Territory http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81035353 -- History -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002006165
ISBN 1876248025 (paperback)