Abstract
A NEW policy for the control of the aborigines under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of the Commonwealth of Australia is announced by Mr. Paterson, Minister for the Interior (The Times, Oct. 4). These aborigines, that is, the inhabitants of the Northern Territories only, are estimated to number approximately 20,000 out of a total aboriginal population of 76,000, of whom 22,000 are half-castes. In future they will be classified in three divisions: (1) detribalized natives, such as those near Darwin and other northern towns; (2) tribes on or near pastoral stations and other white settlements; and (3) aborigines beyond civilized control. This classification corresponds broadly with the facts, and will involve no very drastic interference with existing conditions. At the same time, official recognition and acceptance of a very real distinction should facilitate discrimination and increase efficiency in administering and applying any ameliorative policy. The disposition of the aborigines proposed under the new regulations is that the completely detribalized aborigines should be educated to a white standard, with the view of training them to become economically and occupationally efficient. Areas are to be set aside at Darwin, on which they will be encouraged to abandon their nomadic habits and to settle in family houses, cultivating the soil and rearing domestic animals. Barracks, schools and recreational and sanitary facilities will be provided. Semi-detribalized natives will be settled in reserves, in which they will be enabled to live in native fashion; and myalls, aborigines completely under tribal institutions, will live in the inviolable reserves. The Australian aboriginal has shown himself singularly adaptable to the advantages of white civilization; but it will be interesting to watch how far this experiment in checking so deeply engrained a tribal habit as nomadism meets with success.
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Administrative Classification of Australian Aborigines. Nature 138, 715 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138715a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138715a0