Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-13T20:11:33.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - The modest mandate of 1967

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

Tim Rowse
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Get access

Summary

In Charles Rowley's history of Australian governments' policies towards indigenous Australians, the author is at a loss to say when ‘assimilation’ became the stated objective. One federal Minister for Territories, Charles Barnes, claimed in 1964 that ‘assimilation’ had been the policy of all Australian governments since 1951. However, to find the first common governmental declaration and definition of ‘assimilation’, we need go back no further than 1961:

The policy of assimilation means that all Aborigines and part-Aborigines will attain the same manner of living as other Australians and live as members of a 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. Any special measures taken for Aborigines and part-Aborigines are regarded as temporary measures, not based on race, but intended to meet their need for special care and assistance to protect them from any ill effects of sudden change and to assist them to make the transition from one stage to another in such a way as will be favourable to their social, economic and political advancement.

Two points must be noted. First, the emphasis on being the ‘same’: in assimilation ideology, indigenous Australians were conceded no longterm difference from other Australians in way of life or legal status. Second, the allowance for temporary ‘special measures’: Aborigines and ‘part-Aborigines’ would be entitled to them on the basis of their need, not of their ‘race’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Obliged to be Difficult
Nugget Coombs' Legacy in Indigenous Affairs
, pp. 17 - 33
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • The modest mandate of 1967
  • Tim Rowse, University of Sydney
  • Book: Obliged to be Difficult
  • Online publication: 01 June 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552199.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The modest mandate of 1967
  • Tim Rowse, University of Sydney
  • Book: Obliged to be Difficult
  • Online publication: 01 June 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552199.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The modest mandate of 1967
  • Tim Rowse, University of Sydney
  • Book: Obliged to be Difficult
  • Online publication: 01 June 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552199.002
Available formats
×