Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Michael Dodson
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- The Aboriginal World View
- Aborigines and the Land
- Aboriginal Lifestyles
- Aborigines, Resources and Development
- Aborigines, Law and the State
- 11 The Yirrkala proposals for the control of law and order
- 12 Aboriginal political leadership and the role of the National Aboriginal Conference
- 13 Aborigines and the Treaty of Waitangi
- Asserting Autonomy: Recent Aboriginal Initiatives
- The Recognition of Native Title
- Conclusion
- Appendix: The Eva Valley Statement
- References
- Select Bibliography of work by H.C. Coombs
- Index
11 - The Yirrkala proposals for the control of law and order
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Michael Dodson
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- The Aboriginal World View
- Aborigines and the Land
- Aboriginal Lifestyles
- Aborigines, Resources and Development
- Aborigines, Law and the State
- 11 The Yirrkala proposals for the control of law and order
- 12 Aboriginal political leadership and the role of the National Aboriginal Conference
- 13 Aborigines and the Treaty of Waitangi
- Asserting Autonomy: Recent Aboriginal Initiatives
- The Recognition of Native Title
- Conclusion
- Appendix: The Eva Valley Statement
- References
- Select Bibliography of work by H.C. Coombs
- Index
Summary
Edited version of chapter nine from H C Coombs, M M Brandl and W E Snowdon, ‘A Certain Heritage: Programs for and by Aboriginal Families in Australia’, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies Monograph No. 9, CRES, Australian National University, Canberra, 1983.
ABORIGINAL SOCIAL CONTROL
There is a strong tendency among members of white Australian society to think of the maintenance of law and order exclusively in terms of its own processes: of a codified set of laws, enforced by a State police and judicial system, with the ultimate sanction of the State's exclusive right to impose punishment by violence and even death. However, many smaller societies achieve the order and regularity necessary for social life without such mechanisms and in ways which place greater emphasis on consensus and less upon coercion. In such societies there is often no ruler or body exercising apparent authority and no clearly stated rules or laws. In them, order depends upon an understanding of how the day-to-day activities are to be arranged and of what are acceptable and unacceptable forms of conduct. There must, for instance, be socially accepted norms regulating interpersonal violence, sexual relations, sharing of food and the management of scarce and valuable resources. These norms reflect the structure of the society: how relationships between people are traced; whom they do and do not marry and the ways in which status and property devolve.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Aboriginal AutonomyIssues and Strategies, pp. 118 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994