A20 CCH 06

230
Changing rights and freedoms

6
In this topic you will learn about:
Aboriginal people
change over time; changing government policies towards
Aboriginal people including: protection, assimilation, integration
and self-determination
group: the experience of the stolen generation
events and issues: the role of Aboriginal peoples in the struggle for
freedoms and rights including: the 1967 referendum; land rights
and Native Title
Migrants
the changing patterns of migration 19452000
the experience of a migrant group: a migrant group; and enemy
aliens in WWI
the role of one of the following: the Snowy Mountains Scheme,
1970s boat people and multiculturalism
Women
change over time: the achievements of the womens movement in
the post-WWII period
the experience of one of the following: women during the Great
Depression, womens liberationists in the post-WWII period
the role of one of the following in the changing rights and
freedoms of Australian women: womans suffrage, women in
parliament and equal pay for women
In this topic you will learn to:
account for continuity and/or change over time in the relevant study
examine the experiences of the chosen groups using a range of sources
outline the important developments in a key event/issue relating to
the chosen study
explain the significance of the event/issue for the changing rights and
freedoms of the chosen study
Inquiry
questions
6.1 How have the rights and
freedoms of Aboriginal
peoples and other groups
in Australia changed
during the post-war
period?
231
Chronology
1944 Liberal Party is formed in December.
1945 First atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August.
End of World War II.
First Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race.
1946 Trans-Australia Airways establishes services connecting all capital
cities.
Scheme to encourage European migration to Australia.
1947 Boom in migration and the birth rate.
Australian Broadcasting Commission begins broadcasting an
independent news service.
1948 First mass-produced motor car in Australia.
1949 Federal legislation conditionally allows Aboriginal peoples to vote in
federal elections.
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority created.
LiberalCountry Party federal government.
1950s Significant rise in the birth rate known as the baby boom.
1953 Australian Atomic Energy Commission is established.
1954 Royal Tour of Australia by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
1955 Post-war immigration reaches 1 million.
1956 Commencement of first regular Australian television service.
Melbourne hosts the Olympic Games.
Federal provision for Asian immigrants to gain citizenship after 15
years residence.
1958 Abolition of dictation test for non-English-speaking immigrants.
1960s Major growth in trade with Asian countries.
1961 Oral contraceptives for women are commercially available.
1962 Aboriginal people given the vote in Commonwealth elections.
First university Chair of Australian Literature is established.
1965 First report by Professor Ronald Henderson on poverty, which
focuses on Melbourne.
1966 New boom in immigration.
Japan becomes Australias largest overseas export market.
Introduction of decimal currency.
Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin is the first woman to become a
federal minister.
1967 Referendum to count Aboriginal people in the census and to allow
the Commonwealth to make laws for them. Referendum has the
highest majority ever.
Postcodes are introduced.
1970 Net immigration begins to decrease.
Germaine Greers The Female Eunuch is published.
1971 Anti-apartheid demonstrations are held during the South African
Springbok rugby tour in Australia.
1972 Whitlam Labor government is elected to office on 2 December.
Whitlam government abolishes the White Australia Policy.
Austral i a i n the 20th Century
232
6.1a How have the rights and freedoms of Aboriginal
peoples in Australia changed during the post-war
period?
Change over time
The paternalistic view
In the period 1901 to 1914, the various state governments maintained the same attitude
towards Aboriginal peoples as the British colonists had in 1788. This attitude was based
on a belief that the Aboriginal peoples were uncivilised and inferior to Europeans
because they did not have clothes, a Christian religion or the English language. Most of
all, they were not white and were savages.
These attitudes led to paternalism towards the Aboriginal peoples by the whites.
Paternalism comes from the word paternal, meaning fatherly. In terms of government
action, it means taking fatherly control of people who are believed to be unable to act
for themselves. Paternalism is sometimes well-intentioned, but it is based on the belief
that one group is superior and they must do what is best for the inferior group.
The paternalistic view of state governments, church leaders and the white population
meant that Aboriginal people were not consulted about what was best for them. It was
believed that their life would be improved by Christianity, schooling and following the
white mans ways.
The forcing of Aboriginal people from traditional land was connected to paternalism.
White Australians considered their needs for the land to be superior to those of
Aboriginal peoples. It was believed that placing displaced Aboriginal people on reserves
or missions and giving them handouts of food and basic supplies was humane; that life
in a building was better than wandering in a bush.
These paternalistic attitudes were the
result of ignorance of Aboriginal culture
and lifestyle. Even expert white people,
such as Daisy Bates (18591951), who had
lived among Aboriginal people, suggested
that they should be gathered into a large,
central reserve closed to outsiders until the
Aboriginal people had established their
own form of government. They were to be
allowed to keep their traditions, but would
be taught how to farm.
The need to isolate (or segregate)
Aboriginal peoples from the white
population was also related to
paternalism. Isolating Aboriginal people
on reserves was seen as one way of
protecting them from European diseases
and alcohol. However, this action did not
take into account the fact that traditional
land, not the land of a reserve, was
important to Aboriginal peoples.
Paternalism in terms
of government
means implementing
regulations in order
to manage a group
in the manner of a
father.
Source 6.1
Aboriginal children with a missionary, c.1910. In what ways does this
photograph show paternalism?
Chapter 6 Changi ng ri ghts and freedoms
233
Paternalism and the Dreaming
Traditional land was connected to the Dreaming (also known as the Dreamtime). The
Dreaming involved legends about the past, how things were created and the laws to be
followed. It involved the present and the future. The Dreaming bound Aboriginal people
to everything in their lives and their environment. This is explained in source 6.2.
Source 6.2
The Dreaming
In the beginning was the Dreamtime, the time of creation, Alcheringa Dreamtime lives in
Aboriginal legends handed down for at least 40,000 years. In song, story and poetry, art, drama
and dance, the Dreamtime tells how the Spirit Ancestors formed and gave life to the land and laid
down the Law
For Aboriginal people the Dreamtime explains the origin of the universe, the workings of nature
and the nature of humanity, the cycle of life and death. It shapes Aboriginal life by regulating
kinship, family life with a network of obligations to people, land and spirits
Dreamtime is continuous and present, a cycle of life without beginning or end Dreaming is the
life of the spirit and the imagination Most of all, Dreamtime is the religious experience, the spiritual
tie that binds Aboriginal people to the land that owns them.
Dreamtime is the spirit of the land. In most of modern Australia, the Dreamtime was the web of
life, the harmony of all things that was shattered by the white invasion.
Nigel Parbury, Survival: A History of Aboriginal Life in New South Wales,
published by the NSW Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in 1986, revised 1988
Linked to the Dreaming is the importance of objects and places connected to the
Spirit Ancestors. To the Aboriginal people, their territory is not simply trees, hills, caves
and rivers. These are places created by the Spirit Ancestors who lived in the landscape.
In fact, these ancestors had changed themselves into the natural features of the
environment. Such places are sacred sites.
The Aboriginal view of life is that humans, animals and natural features are all
part of the same life-force. Each group has a totem (place, animal, fish or bird) which
represents their Spirit Ancestor from the Dreaming.
Each person also has a personal totem based on happenings during their mothers
pregnancy. The people, land, totems and life form an Aboriginal persons system. Each
Aboriginal group had its own territory, with its special features. Moving a group to a
reserve, away from these special features, meant disconnecting them from life itself.
This was not understood by those with paternalistic attitudes.
Aboriginal people also held the land in great respect and saw it as the mother that
gives life to all. It was important to care for the land, to preserve and conserve it. They
knew that, in order to survive, they must protect the balance between themselves
and nature. For this reason, Aboriginal society preferred tradition, continuity and little
change.
Source 6.3
Aboriginal ties with particular land
Contrary to the beliefs of the first white observers, Aboriginal groups did have definite ties with
particular pieces of land. They were not complete nomads, but rather semi-nomadic: that is they
camped at different temporary campsites within their own identifiable territory. Though the tie with
the territory was not obvious to the European eye, it was in fact stronger than the same tie in western
society.
M. Prentis, A Study in Black and White: The Aborigines in Australian History (2nd edn),
Social Science Press, Katoomba NSW,1988
A totem is something
in nature that is seen
as an emblem of a
family or clan.
234
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 In your own words, define paternalism as it applied to Aboriginal peoples from 1901
to 1914.
2 Why did white Australians at this time have paternalistic views about Aboriginal peoples?
3 What was wrong with the idea of putting dispossessed Aboriginal people on reserves?
4 Below is a list of statements about Aboriginal peoples. Decide whether each statement is
paternalistic or not and explain why.
a Aboriginal people need looking after.
b Aboriginal culture is primitive.
c Aboriginal people cannot control their lives.
d Aboriginal people can be improved by Christianity.
e Aboriginal people are better off if placed on reserves.
Analysis and use of sources
1 From source 6.2, list three things that the Dreamtime explains to the Aboriginal peoples.
2 According to source 6.2, what is the most important feature of the Dreamtime in
Aboriginal religious beliefs?
3 Explain what is meant by the harmony of all things that was shattered by the white
invasion.
4 How does source 6.3 support the case that Europeans did not understand the connection
between specific Aboriginal groups and specific pieces of land?
5 Here is a scenario: The establishment of a town and farms led to the dispossession of a
local Aboriginal group. A paternalistic group proposes to move the displaced people to
a reserve 300 kilometres away, where they can live their own way.
What information from sources 6.2 and 6.3 could you use to argue against this case?
List your points.
Communication
Using your points from question 5 above, and from what you have learnt in this section, write a
one-page exposition to argue the case against placing the Aboriginal people on reserves.
The policy of protection
Chronology of protection in the 19th century
1838 Royal Society for Protection of Aborigines is established in the colony of New South Wales.
Protectors are given money and land to set up stations. At the stations, Aboriginal people are taught
to farm and Aboriginal children are taught European culture.
1857 New South Wales Protectorates are closed down. Aboriginal people are not interested in them and
white settlers are against government money being spent on Aboriginal peoples.
1881 New South Wales Government appoints a Protector of Aborigines. The Protector has power to set
up reserves and force Aboriginal people to live on them. Aboriginal peoples have no political or
legal power to object.
1893 The Aborigines Protection Board is established in New South Wales. Aboriginal affairs in Western
Australia were under the control of the British Parliament until 1897. Victoria appointed an
Aborigines Protection Board in 1860. Queensland established two Protectors in 1897.
The policy of protection for Aboriginal peoples was connected with paternalism.
This policy had its origins in the 19th century and was described by one authority
to smooth the pillow of a dying race. The previous chronology will help you to
understand the idea of protection.
235
In 1909, the Aborigines Protection Act was passed in New South Wales. It led to the
appointment of two white guardians who had many powers to control Aboriginal
peoples. Some of these are outlined in source 6.4.
The Victorian Aborigines Act 1886, like the policies of all Australian states, also put
Aboriginal affairs into the hands of others. Source 6.5 contains extracts from that Act.
Many Aboriginal people were forced to live on reserves, and suffered as a result. Under
the policy of protection, Aboriginal children could be removed from their families and
sent to homes to be trained as servants or farm labourers. The Cootamundra Girls
Home was established in 1911.
The purpose of protection and the way it operated is described in source 6.6 by the
historian Malcolm Prentis.
Source 6.4
Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW)
There shall be a board for the Protection of Aborigines and it will be headed by the Inspector-General
of Police.
The Board will appoint managers of reserves.
The duties of the board will be to:
control the money for assisting Aborigines
distribute blankets and clothing to Aborigines
have custody of Aboriginal children and educate them
manage reserves
supervise all matters affecting Aborigines
remove from the reserves any Aborigines who should be earning their own living.
NSW Parliamentary Debates, 1909
Source 6.5
Aborigines Act 1886 (Vic.)
The Governor in Council may make regulations and orders:
For prescribing the place where any aboriginal or any tribe of aboriginals shall reside:
For prescribing terms on which contracts for and on behalf of aboriginals may by made with
persons other than aboriginals
For apportioning amongst aboriginals the earnings of aboriginals under any contract
For the care custody and education of the children of aboriginals
All bedding, clothing and other articles issued or distributed to the aboriginals shall be considered
on loan only, and shall remain the property of His Majesty
Victorian Parliament, 1915, 6 George V, No. 2610
Source 6.6
The policy of protection
It has been described by some authorities as a system of protectionsegregation: that is, separation
of Aborigines from white society in order to protect them from its bad effects In its protective
aspect, the policy did provide for medical care (stations often had matrons), rations, and such things
as fishing tackle and agricultural implements; and blankets were still distributed. It was sometimes
the policy to place children in homes or stations or even taking them from their parents; it was
thought in this way they could be salvaged from the primitive lifestyle of their parents Education
was another means of raising particularly Aboriginal children to civilisation. This tended to be left to
Christian missions.
M. Prentis, A Study in Black and White: The Aborigines in Australian History (2nd edn),
Social Science Press, Katoomba NSW, 1988
236
Working
historically
In 1911, control of the Northern Territory was transferred from South Australia to the
federal government. This gave the Commonwealth responsibility for looking after the
20 000 full-blooded and several hundred half-caste Aboriginal people of this territory
and occurred at a time when some members of the public were calling for better
treatment of Indigenous Australians.
The federal government, under the Commonwealth Aboriginals Ordinance 1912,
established an Aboriginal Department under a Chief Protector and allowed for the
creation of reserves. The Chief Protector had the power to take any Aboriginal person
into his custody and, along with the police, could arrest Aboriginal people without the
need for a warrant. Further, under the ordinance, all marriages between Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal people could only take place with the permission of the minister for
external affairs.
How did Aboriginal peoples react to protectionism?
In the period up to 1914, Aboriginal peoples were forced to accept protectionism. One
Aboriginal person complained that the Europeans had stolen his country and were
now stealing Aboriginal children by taking them away to live in huts, work and read
books like whitefellows. It was not until Aboriginal activists such as the Australian
Aborigines Progressive Association (1924) and the Australian Aborigines League (1932)
pushed for reform that changes were made.
Comprehension
1 Using the scale 1 cm = 5 years, draw a timeline and place on it these events:
a appointment of a Protector of Aborigines in New South Wales
b Aborigines Protection Act passed in New South Wales
c Aborigines Protection Board established in New South Wales
d Commonwealth government takes over Aboriginal affairs in Northern Territory
2 Why do you think the policy of protection was developed?
3 How were rights of Aboriginal peoples different from those of non-Aboriginal peoples
under protection?
4 What relationship can you see between paternalism and protection?
1 Refer to source 6.4. Who was in charge of the Aborigines Protection Board?
2 Use source 6.4 to decide whether the following statements are true or false:
a Aboriginal people living on reserves had control over their own money.
b Aboriginal parents had custody of their own children.
c Aboriginal people were able to manage and run the reserves themselves.
d All Aboriginal people were allowed to live on the reserves.
3 How do sources 6.4 and 6.6 help you to understand the policy of protection?
4 Refer to source 6.5. What powers did the Aboriginal peoples have for determining where
they lived?
5 If a group of Aboriginal people earned money, could they decide how they would share it
among themselves?
6 Refer to sources 6.5 and 6.5. Was the legislation in each state similar or different?
7 Refer to source 6.6. Why were Aboriginal children placed in homes?
8 Is there evidence in sources 6.4 and 6.5 (primary sources) to support the view of Prentis
in source 6.6 (a secondary source)?
Communication
Source 6.7 contains a description of New South Wales protection legislation. Using this model,
write a description of the Victorian legislation for the protection of Aboriginal peoples.
237
The policy of assimilation
Source 6.7
Model of a description of New South Wales protection legislation
Orientation that introduces
the reader to the subject of
the description
The legislation in New South Wales relates to the
protection policy was the Aborigines Protection
Act 1909.
A series of paragraphs to
describe each feature of
the legislation
A conclusion to signal the
end of the description
The first section of the legislation established a
Board for the Protection of Aboriginals. The head
of this board was to be the Inspector-General of
Police.
The next section tells of the Boards authority
to appoint managers of reserves. No details are
given on who these managers should be.
The final section of the legislation details the
duties of the Board. Six duties are listed including
controlling the money of Aborigines and custody
of Aboriginal children.
The legislation provides historians with an
understanding of how the policy of protection
was applied to Aboriginal people in NSW in the
1900s.
Source 6.8
Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, c.1940s
Source 6.9
The aim of assimilation
[It aimed to have] all persons of Aboriginal blood or mixed blood living like white Australians
Sharman Stone (ed.), Aborigines in White Australia: A Documentary History, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1974
238
The policy of assimilation replaced that of protectionism during the 1940s in Australia.
The aim of assimilation is given in source 6.9.
During the 1930s, improved methods of communication led to greater contact
between the city and the outback, with more people becoming aware of the Aboriginal
problem. At the same time, a number of Christian missionaries and anthropologists
began to question the governments policy of protection and segregation of Aboriginal
peoples onto reserves. Professor A.P. Elkin of the University of Sydney and T.G.H.
Strehlow of Adelaide argued that protection should
be replaced by assimilation. Aboriginal peoples
themselves also began to actively seek better
treatment.
At the 1937 Conference of Commonwealth and State
Aboriginal Authorities, agreement was reached on
moving from the passive policy of protection to a more
positive policy described as assimilation. Assimilation
meant Aboriginal peoples would be encouraged and
assisted to become like white Australians and they
were to have the same rights as white Australians.
They were to forget their own culture and live as
Europeans. The policy was based on the mistaken
belief that all Aboriginal people wanted to accept
the loss of their own culture. A later government
definition of assimilation is contained in source 6.11.
An anthropologist is
a person who studies
human society and
culture.
Source 6.10
Professor A.P. Elkin was a proponent
of assimilation
Source 6.11
Government definition of assimilation
All Aborigines and part-Aborigines are expected eventually to attain the same manner of living as other
Australians and to 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.
Conference of State Ministers, 1961
Source 6.12
Exemption certificates
Aborigines had to apply and be recommended to achieve an exemption, which meant proving to
the DWO that they were willing to live separately from other Aboriginal people, to work in approved
regular jobs and to save for approved purchases. Home furnishings would be approved, for
example, but sharing of wages with kinfolk or spending money for travel to maintain extended family
relationships would be definitely disapproved. Denial or revocation of exemption certificates meant
families were more vulnerable to school segregations and to loss of their children, were far less likely
to receive Federal unemployment benefits or old-age pensions, and were denied access to hotels
and alcohol, which meant exclusion from the labour exchange of many country towns as well as from
the social network of the rural male workforce.
Despite the high cost of not participating in the exemption process, many Aborigines refused to
be humiliated into applying for what they called a Dog Licence.
Adapted from Heather Goodhall, Invasion to Embassy: Land in Aboriginal Politics in New South Wales, 17701972,
Allen & Unwin/Black Books, Sydney
239
In February 1939, John McEwen, the federal minister for the interior, announced
that the assimilation policy would be applied in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal
people were to be educated for full citizenship without distinction, either among other
Aboriginal people or with white people. Through education and welfare measures,
Aboriginal peoples were to be given equal opportunity.
The New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board held its first meeting in June 1940.
But it was not until 1948 that district welfare officers (DWOs) were appointed to towns
with large Aboriginal populations. DWOs had the power to issue exemption certificates
to deserving Aborigines. These certificates allowed access to public education, housing
and services on the same basis as white citizens. The influence of these certificates is
described in source 6.12.
Aboriginal children were frequently removed from their families as part of the
assimilation policy. In source 6.13, Kathleen Miller, an Aboriginal girl removed from her
family, describes her experience.
Source 6.13
Live like a white person
The common saying of the staff [to the Aboriginal girls taken to the Cootamundra
Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls] was live like a white person They
were making us whitethink whitelook whiteact white. [We were told] there is a
good chance that you will marry a white man and your children will be lighter and
their children will be lighter until they are completely white.
Kathleen Millers oral history record, 1982
Aboriginal people as citizens
The federal and state governments continued aspects of the assimilation policy into
the 1960s. In most cases, Aboriginal people did not receive equal opportunities: their
wages were usually less than that paid to white workers; limited recognition was given
to the role they played in the defence of Australia during World War II and in the
cattle industry; and it was not until 1967 that the Constitution was altered to include
Aboriginal peoples as Australian citizens.
Source 6.14
Aboriginal children dressed in Western-style clothing
240
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 In your own words, define what was meant by assimilation.
2 What was agreed to at the 1937 Conference of Commonwealth and State Aboriginal
Authorities?
3 Who was John McEwen?
4 What were DWOs?
5 What were exemption certificates?
6 Did assimilation provide equal opportunity for Aboriginal peoples? Give reasons to
support your answer.
1 Read source 6.11. What do you think was meant by attain the same manner of living as
other Australians?
2 Whose customs, beliefs, hopes and loyalties were Aboriginal people supposed to accept?
3 Read source 6.12. What did Indigenous Australians have to prove to get an exemption
certificate?
4 Without an exemption certificate, what did Aboriginal Australians risk?
5 What name did Aboriginal peoples give to an exemption certificate? Why would they call
it this?
Communication
A historical recount has the purpose of recording past events. It usually has three sections:
an introduction that introduces the topic
a record of events that are presented in chronological order
a conclusion that can include a judgement about the importance of the events
Source 6.15
A Macdonnell Range Creek, Albert Namatjira, 1944
Source 6.16
Aboriginal soldiers on parade, 1940
Australian War Memorial PO 2140.004
watercolour, gift of Howard Hinton 1945, Howard Hinton
Collection, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW.
Reproduced with permission of Legend Press Pty Ltd.
241
Create a timeline that could be used to write the record of events section of a historical recount.
Write an event that occurred next to each date.
1937 event 1939 event 1940 event
Research
1 See if you can locate any of the writings of A.P. Elkin or T.G.H. Strehlow.
2 What is source 6.15? When was it painted and by whom? Find some information about
the artist.
From assimilation to integration
Aboriginal peoples fought for the right to participate equally in mainstream society.
But they did not want to lose their culture or identity, which was the aim of the
assimilation policy. At the first conference of the Federal Council for the Advancement
of Aborigines, Herbert Groves questioned the meaning of assimilation (source 6.17).
At a 1965 Commonwealth Conference on Aboriginal policy, the policy of assimilation
was changed to one of integration. Integration aimed at allowing Aboriginal culture
and customs to co-exist with non-Aboriginal culture (see source 6.19).
Source 6.17
Assimilation
What does assimilation imply? Certainly, citizenship and equal statusso far, so good; but also
the disappearance of the Aboriginals as a separate cultural group, and ultimately their physical
absorption by the European part of the population. We feel that the word integration implies a truer
definition of our aims and objects.
Cited by Len Fox (compiler), Aborigines in New South Wales, AAF, Sydney, 1960, p. 23
Source 6.19
Integration
In time [the assimilation] policy came
under attack, with critics pointing to its denial
of Aboriginal culture, the arrogant assumption
of the superiority of the white culture, and the
dependency that it helped engender. For a
time, integration became Commonwealth
policy, though it was difficult to detect the
differences between assimilation and
integration. With attitudes thus changing
though not in Queensland, which remained
determinedly assimilationist in its approach
until well into the 1980s the other State
governments began to reform many of the
laws that denied Aborigines equality with the
rest of the Australian community.
Scott Bennett, White Politics and Black Australians,
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999, p. 60
Source 6.18
Schoolchildren in Ernabella, South Australia, 1963
242
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 Read source 6.17. What did assimilation imply?
2 When did integration become Commonwealth policy?
3 What policy did integration replace?
4 What did integration aim to do?
5 According to source 6.19, did the adoption of the policy of integration bring an end to
assimilationist practices?
Self-determination
Self-determination is the right for a nation or group of people to determine and control
all aspects of their lives. In Australia, self-determination involves Aboriginal peoples
having the right to navigate their needs and wants. Essential elements to the full
achievement of self-determination include secure ownership of land; local community
control of land; local community control of services and community affairs; and
genuine involvement in the creation of all government policies relating to Indigenous
peoples. For many Aboriginal communities, ownership of at least a part of their
traditional land is a vital step in the achievement of self-determination.
Self-determination is linked to many issues. Some examples are: the return of human
remains and secret or sacred material by museums; the recognition of customary
law; access to culturally appropriate education; the provision of culturally appropriate
housing in communities. The establishment of Aboriginal-run social welfare, education,
health and cultural organisations is an important element in the move towards self-
determination. Examples of organisations established by Aboriginal people in Sydney
in the 1970s include the Aboriginal Legal Service, the Aboriginal Medical Service, and
the National Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre. Tranby Aboriginal College was
established in 1958.
Self-determination is also Commonwealth government policy. In 1972, the Australian
Labor Party adopted a policy of self-determination for Aboriginal peoples. The Liberal
Party developed a policy of self-management. In 1996 the policy was changed to self-
empowerment (see source 6.19).
In the 1970s, the first steps were made towards allowing formalised Aboriginal
input into government decision-making about Aboriginal issues. In 1973, the National
Aboriginal Consultative Committee (NACC) was established to advise the minister for
Aboriginal affairs. But the NACC had no power and they were frequently ignored in
their advisory role.
Source 6.20
Two policies compared
The Whitlam and subsequent Labor governments put forth self-determination as their central
policy in Aboriginal affairs but seemed reluctant, or at least tardy, in giving effect and substance
to the proper meaning of the policy by allowing Aboriginals to place their hands on the controls of
the system In the end there was no difference in the two policiesthey became confused and
synonymous with each other with the stronger term being diminished to the meaning of the weaker.
P. Donnelly, Senior Department of Aboriginal Affairs (Commonwealth) Officer, address to Aboriginal and Islander
Catholic Council, Rockhampton, 9 January 1990, quoted in Frank Brennan, Sharing the Country: The Case for an
Agreement Between Black and White Australians, Penguin Books, Ringwood,1994, p. 49
243
Working
historically
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
In 1990, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
(ATSIC) was formed, as the national policy-making and
service delivery agency for Indigenous peoples. The extent of
indigenous control of ATSIC, however, was severely limited by
the level of government and ministerial control exercised over
funding and policy decisions. The future of Indigenous self-
determination is uncertain. The conservative Howard federal
government made moves to abolish ATSIC in 2004.
Aboriginal peoples now have much greater input into
government policy than under previous assimilationist regimes.
Aboriginal Australians now run many social welfare, education
and cultural organisations. Limited forms of land rights and
native title now exist. Total self-determination, however, has
not yet been achieved. Input into the policy process does not
ensure that Aboriginal views are reflected in the developed
policy. Control still lies in non-Aboriginal hands.
Aboriginal people still suffer from enormous economic and social disadvantages in
Australian society. In 1991, Commissioner Elliot Johnston commented on this in his
report on the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody (see source 6.22).
Source 6.21
ATSIC chairperson (2000) Geoff Clark
Source 6.22
Commissioner Johnstons report
that substantial change in the situation of Aboriginal people in Australia will not occur unless
government and non-Aboriginal society accept the necessity for Aboriginal people to be empowered to
identify, effect and direct the changes which are required. The process of empowerment is at the same
time the process of self-determination.
Deaths in Custody National Report, Vol. 4, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra
Comprehension
1 Name four elements of self-determination.
2 Name five issues that are relevant to self-determination.
3 When did the Australian Labor Party adopt the policy of self-determination?
4 When was the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee formed?
5 What was the role of the NACC?
6 When was ATSIC formed?
7 What is the role of ATSIC?
1 Read source 6.22. Why do you think that self-determination is necessary in order to
change the disadvantaged social and economic situation of Aboriginal peoples in
Australia?
2 Do you think that Aboriginal Australians have achieved self-determination?
Communication
1 Define self-determination in your own words.
2 Select an issue and explain how self-determination is relevant to this issue.
244
Group
The stolen generations
Source 6.23
The Aborigines Protection Board Regulation, 1916
The Aboriginal Protection Board was established in 1883. Its purpose was to control the lives and
movements of Aboriginal people. In 1916, the Board adopted a new set of rules for Aborigines. One
of the rules was for female children.
All girls reaching the age of 14 years, shall leave the reserve. In order to effect this result, the
mothers shall be given the option and opportunity of themselves placing their girls out in situations
[such as domestic servants] to the satisfaction of the Boards officers. If they fail to do this within a
period of one month, after being notified, the Boards Inspectors shall have the power to ... [send]
such girls to Sydney or to Cootamundra Home for a period of training as arranged by the Secretary.
James Miller, Koori: A Will To Win, A&R, Sydney 1986, p.147
Source 6.24
Cootamundra Girls Training School in the 1940s. Kathleen Miller was born in
Singleton in 1920. This extract is a piece of oral history. It was recorded by her
son, James Miller, in 1982.
I went to Cootamundra when I was 10, till I was 15. I found
it rough and hard especially in wintertime all walking
around with no shoes. It was cold and the food was poor. They
were always telling us how to work around the place, lay
tablesset tables, how to dress people. The common saying
on the staff was to live like the white person. That was
sort of drummed into our heads, so when we left the home we
started to work for white people in [domestic] service. We were
prepared, we just lived in with them. In the homes there was
punishment, like you wouldnt go to swimming and you were put
on scrubbing bricks. The work was all a hands and knees job.
The staff, when I remember them, were pretty good to us, but
there was one English matron who would always make us curtsy
to her. If you were sitting down reading a book and she came
into the room, you would have to stand up and bob. ... I stayed
in sixth class till I was 14 and then I did a years training
as a domestic.
My first job was in Goulburn working for a grazier.
I ran away from there. I was there with another girl from
Cootamundra and she was having difficulty with the lady so we
ran away. I got the train to Sydney and went to the Protection
Board. I was 16. I finished my service at Katoomba, and when
I turned 18 I left the service and went back to my mother.
James Miller, Koori: A Will To Win, A&R, Sydney 1986, p.163
Source 6.25
Aboriginal girl at Cootamundra Girls Home, 1923
245
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 From source 6.23, what happened to Aboriginal female children at the age of 14?
2 What options were Aboriginal mothers given by the Aborigines Protection Board?
3 What sort of work were Aboriginal girls taught?
4 Where were the children sent for training?
5 Look at source 6.25 and read the caption. Using source 6.23, can you suggest what this
Aboriginal girl was doing and how she got there?
6 From source 6.24, when was Kathleen Miller sent to Cootamundra? How many years
was she there?
7 Why did Kathleen find things hard during winter?
8 What sort of training did Aboriginal girls get at the school?
a What did the staff try to drum in the girls heads?
b How do you think this would have affected the self-respect and culture of Aboriginal
people?
9 Where did Kathleen get her first job? Did she like it? Why?
10 What did Kathleen do when she turned 18?
11 From source 6.26, name an issue that these Aboriginal people are protesting about.
12 Was this the first time that Aboriginal children were taken from their mother?
Give details.
1 Examine source 6.25.
a Who do you think would have taken this photograph? (An Aboriginal person?
A person working for the Aborigines Protection Board?)
Source 6.26
Aboriginal people demonstrating outside the Taree Court House in 1972. One of the Aboriginal women had
her children taken from her by a magistrate. The children had been taken because the mother was seen to be
raising her children in way that white, middle-class people did not like.
246
b Describe the way in which the Aboriginal girl is dressed.
c What is she dressed to look like?
d What do you think the Aborigines Protection Board might have used this photograph
for?
2 Compare source 6.24 with source 6.25.
a Are there any differences between the way the girl is dressed in the photograph and
Kathleen Millers description of what she wore at Cootamundra?
b If you find any differences, can you think of a reason to explain these?
Empathetic understanding
Assume that you are the girl in source 6.24. Write a letter home to your mother describing
conditions at Cootamundra Girls training school. You could include a description of the day you
were photographed. And you could describe your feelings about being away from home.
Events/issues
The 1967 referendum
Aboriginal organisations had called for amendments to remove discriminatory
references to Aboriginal peoples in the Australian Constitution for many decades. It
had been one of the demands at the conference held on the 1938 Day of Mourning.
In 1962, the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement launched a campaign for a
constitutional referendum. Source 6.27 is an extract from their campaign pamphlet.
Source 6.27
Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement petition, 1962
The Australian constitution at present provides:-
Section 51Legislative Powers of Parliament: The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have
power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:-
Clause XXVIThe people of any race, other than the Aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is
deemed necessary to make laws.
Section 127Census: In reckoning the numbers of people of the Commonwealth or of a State, or
other part of the Commonwealth, Aboriginal natives shall not be counted.
The Council maintains that these examples of racial discrimination should be removed.
Aborigines are people, despite Section 127, and they have the right to peace, order and good
government under the Commonwealth Parliament.
Section 51, Clause XXVI: Means that laws with respect to Aborigines are the responsibility of the
States, apart from those living in the Northern Territory.
The effect of this clause is that there is little uniformity in the laws governing Aborigines in the States
and Territory.
Rights enjoyed by Aborigines on settlements and reserves in five States and the Northern Territory
NSW VIC SA WA NT QLD
Voting rights (State) Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Marry freely Yes Yes Yes No No No
Control own children Yes Yes No No No No
Move freely Yes No No No No No
Own property freely Yes No Yes No No No
Receive award wages Yes No No No No No
Alcohol allowed No No No No No No
247
The Federal Government has no power to make laws with respect to Aborigines and yet must try
to defend in the United Nations and other International bodies the varied assortment of Rights and
Restrictions practised by the States
Section 127Census: Implies that Aborigines are not people or at least not people of any account.
Apart from its institutionalised insult to Aborigines, this section has some practical implications.
Reimbursements to the States of money collected as Income Tax are based on their populations
as obtained in the Census. The States thus receive no reimbursements for the Aborigines in their
communities On the other hand, the Commonwealth collects Income Tax from Aborigines in the
States, but has no power (under Section 51) to make laws to assist them
Aborigines may now vote at federal elections, but are not counted in the Census, which is used to
fix electoral boundaries
Australia has a responsibility to educate Aborigines and integrate them into the economic life of
the community It is difficult to see how this responsibility can be met if accurate information is not
obtained as to how many Aborigines are living in each locality
Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement 1962 petition leaflet.
Kind permission of the Riley & Ephemera Collection, State Library of Victoria
Aboriginal peoples and organisations campaigned all over Australia for a
constitutional referendum to be held. Oodgeroo Noonuccal was one of these
campaigners. She travelled around the country to talk to Aboriginal Australians about
the petition and to gather wider community support and media coverage. Noonuccal
reflects on her campaign in source 6.28.
In 1967, a constitutional referendum
was held. One of the two questions
asked was whether the discriminatory
references to Aboriginal peoples in
Sections 51 and 127 of the Constitution
should be removed (see source 6.29).
The vote in favour of this amendment
was 89%. Both in the 1960s and
today, the referendum has frequently
been seen as having provided full
citizenship to Aboriginal Australians.
The constitutional changes did not in
fact directly provide any new rights to
Aboriginal peoples. It was, however, a
very important symbolic victory.
Source 6.29
1967 referendum ballot paper
Source 6.28
Oodgeroo Noonuccal on the referendum campaign
I spoke on all platforms and got once again a tremendous
reception from both my own people and the white race. All
the way through, I found that the white race, the white
Australian, has a very high sense of fair play; he wants to
help, I shocked him all the way along the line, my greatest
problem was educating the white race, they do not know
anything about us and I had to put them right on quite a
lot of things.
The ignorance of the white race is very, very apparent
and I found this out on the tour
Council for Aboriginal Rights, Report by Kath Walker (Oodgeroo Noonuccal) on
her National Tour launching the petition of the FCAA and her speech in Sydney
on 6 October 1962, in the Gordon Bryant Papers, National Library of Australia,
MS 8256/182/3 1967 referendum
248
Working
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Comprehension
Read source 6.27.
1 What were the two sections referring to Aboriginal peoples that were altered in the
constitutional referendum in 1967?
2 What was the effect of these two changes to the Constitution?
3 What percentage of voters supported the removal of the references to Aboriginal peoples
in the Constitution at the 1967 referendum?
4 What were the reasons that the FCAA used to argue for these amendments to the
Constitution?
1 Refer to source 6.28.
a What was Oodgeroo Noonuccals opinion of the level of knowledge that white
Australians had about Aboriginal peoples and issues?
b Do you think that she would have the same opinion today?
2 Refer to source 6.27. Answer true or false to the following statements:
a An Aboriginal person who moved from New South Wales to Queensland lost the right
to vote in state elections.
b An Aboriginal person who moved from South Australia to Victoria lost the right to
own property.
c An Aboriginal person who moved from Western Australia to New South Wales gained
the right to drink alcohol.
d An Aboriginal person who moved from New South Wales to Victoria lost the right to
marry freely.
e An Aboriginal person who moved from New South Wales to any other State or
Territory lost the right to move around freely.
Communication
Write a one-page biography of Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Use at least one of the following:
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia
Australian Encyclopaedia
Land rights and native title
Land rights
During the 1960s and 1970s, land rights became a national political issue.
Internationally, this era saw the civil rights movement in America and decolonisation
in much of Africa and the AsiaPacific region. Throughout the world, media and public
attention was being paid to the rights of Indigenous peoples. The issue of Aboriginal
land rights received international attention, creating pressure on the governments of
Australia to act.
Land has always been an important thread in the protests of Aboriginal peoples
against their dispossession and disadvantage. Land is of great importance to Aboriginal
peoples for religious, spiritual, social and economic reasons. European settlement since
1770 has led to Indigenous Australians losing control of their land. The call for land
rights is the demand that some attempt be made to address this loss.
Land rights became the rallying cry for the Aboriginal rights movement in the late
1960s and 1970s. Aboriginal people, ranging from those living in remote communities
to urban activists, joined together in their demand for land rights. They were supported
249
Working
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in their fight by many non-Aboriginal
Australians. The demands of the land
rights movement included the handing
over of ownership of traditional lands to
the relevant Aboriginal communities and
compensation for those communities which
had been dispossessed of all their lands.
Social justice issuesincluding health,
education, and housingcontinued to
be of great importance. However, the
return of land to Aboriginal control was
seen as central in achieving social justice
and self-determination. All major studies
of Aboriginal peoples have identified
dispossession of their land as a major
reason for their economic and social
disadvantages. The control of traditional
lands and significant sites is also vital to
the cultural and spiritual life of Aboriginal communities.
There has been a variety of pieces of legislation passed relating to Aboriginal land
rights in Australia since 1966. These Acts provide widely varying rights to Aboriginal
peoples in the different states and territories. None of these Acts has met the demands
of the land rights movement (see source 6.31).
The issue of land continues to be of central importance to Aboriginal peoples,
although the language is now that of native title rather than land rights.
Source 6.31
Aboriginal rights to land
All of these parliamentary initiatives represented limited and somewhat token attempts to recognise
Aboriginal rights to land. Indeed, the inability of legislatures to articulate a broadly defined right of
Aborigines to the land from which they were dispossessed will surely be looked upon as one of the
less noble facets of Australian parliamentary democracy Only with the Mabo High Court decision
in 1992 would Aborigines be legally recognised to have certain rights not available to others.
John Chesterman & Brian Galligan, Citizens Without Rights: Aborigines and Australian Citizenship,
Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1997, p. 205
Comprehension
1 When was the first land rights legislation passed?
2 Name two aspects of the international situation that increased awareness of Indigenous
rights.
3 What are the two key land rights demands?
1 Why is land rights seen as of central importance to the achievement of social justice?
2 Read source 6.31. What is the authors opinion of land rights legislation?
3 What provided the first legal recognition of specific Aboriginal rights to land?
Communication
Write a one-page exposition to argue the case for land rights.
Source 6.30
A demonstration in support of Aboriginal land rights
250
Source 6.32
Vincent Lingiari on the protest
The issue on which we are protesting is neither purely economic nor political but moral On August
22, 1966 the Gurindji tribe decided to cease to live like dogs.
New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, 1986, revised 1988
Gurindji and Wave Hill
The protest expressed in source 6.32 is just one of many made by Aboriginal peoples
living in remote communities. In 1966, the Gurindji people living and working on Wave
Hill Station in the Northern Territory walked off the job in protest against the lack of
wages and the appalling treatment and conditions they lived under. The sexual abuse
of the Aboriginal women by the white men on the station was one of many issues.
Vincent Lingiari led the walk-out.
This strike rapidly developed into a claim by the Gurindji for part of their traditional
lands to be handed back to them. Seven months after walking off, Vincent Lingiari
led his people to establish a new camp at Daguragu (Wattie Creek) in the heart of the
Gurindji Dreaming country on Wave Hill Station. That same year, a petition was sent by
Vincent Lingiari and other Gurindji to the governor-general (source 6.33).
Source 6.33
Gurindji petition
Our people lived here from time immemorial and our culture, myths, dreaming and sacred places
have been evolved in this land. Many of our forefathers were killed in the early days trying to retain it.
Therefore we feel that morally the land is ours and should be returned to us.
New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, 1986, revised 1988
Source 6.34
Invitation to the handing over ceremony of the Gurindji land in 1975
251
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Practical and moral
support was provided to the
Gurindji by Aboriginal rights
organisations, trade unions,
student organisations and
churches. The author Frank
Hardy and the Aboriginal
union organiser Dexter
Daniels were two non-
Gurindji individuals who
were important supporters
of the walk-off. The Gurindji
action received nationwide
press coverage and brought
the issue of Aboriginal
rights to traditional land to
the attention of the general
public. In 1975, after nine
years of protest, the Whitlam
government handed over to
the Gurindji people a pastoral
lease to 1250 square miles
(3250 square km). This was
only a portion of the 5186 square-mile (13 500 square km) Wave Hill lease held by Lord
Vesteys British company. Ten years later, under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern
Territory) Act 1976, the Gurindji gained freehold title to the land.
Comprehension
1 When did the Gurindji people walk off Wave Hill Station?
2 How many square kilometres was Wave Hill Station?
3 Who owned Wave Hill Station?
4 What were the initial reasons for the walk-off?
5 Who led the walk-off?
6 Read source 6.33. What did the petition ask for?
7 Who provided support to the Gurindji?
8 How long did it take before they received what they had asked for in the petition?
Perspectives and interpretations
1 Read source 6.33. What were the reasons the Gurindji gave for their land to be returned
to them?
2 In your own words, describe why the Gurindji walked off Wave Hill Station.
3 Read source 6.32. What is the authors opinion of land rights?
Communication
Write a one-page biography of Vincent Lingiari. Use at least one of the following:
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Frank Hardy, The Unlucky Australian
Source 6.35
Gough Whitlam pours sand into Vincent Lingiaris hand during the ceremony
marking the handover of traditional Gurindji land at Wave Hill
252
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was an important focus for the land rights and social
justice movement in the early 1970s, and it continues to be of great symbolic
importance to Aboriginal peoples. In the early hours of Australia Day 1972, the
Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up on the lawns of Parliament House (now Old
Parliament House) in Canberra. The embassy was established by young Aboriginal
activists from New South Wales. They were rapidly joined by activists from around
Australia. It was powerfully symbolic for Aboriginal peoples, reflecting as it did the
camps in which Aboriginal Australians still lived all over Australia (see source 6.39).
Source 6.38
William McMahon denies the issue of land rights
On Australia Day 1972 Prime Minister
McMahon, against the advice of the Council
for Aboriginal Affairs announced his
governments Aboriginal policy. There was
no admission that Aboriginals had any right
to land or compensation, because land
rights would threaten the security of tenure
of every Australian The London Times
headlined the story Australias New Rejection
of Aborigines.
Nigel Parbury, Survival: A History of Aboriginal Life in New
South Wales, New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs,
1986, revised 1988
Source 6.36
Aboriginal Tent Embassy
Source 6.37
Designed by an
Arrernte man, Harold
Thomas, the Aboriginal
flag became a national
symbol when it was
flown at the Aboriginal
Tent Embassy in front
of the old Parliament
House. Here, it is being
used to try to establish
a camp in front of the
new Parliament House
in 1999.
253
Source 6.39
Low morale brought on the Aboriginal Embassy
The Australia Day statement, as it happened, came at a time when blacks had arrived at a
particularly depressing point of morale. In 1967 they had hoped that with the granting of citizenship
rights and federal power to over-ride state legislation, conditions would improve for Aborigines and
land rights would be a possibility. Instead of this, blacks witnessed the official bullying of the Gurindji
tribe, which was attempting to claim 500 square miles of country at Wattie Creek, Northern Territory.
Then came the decision in the Gove Land Rights case which found against the Yirrkala tribes land
claim on the Gove Peninsula. The release of official figures showing that black infants were dying
at between ten and seventeen times the rate for white babies in various parts of the country was
enough to depress blacks even further. That was why the Aboriginal Embassy came into being.
Kevin J. Gilbert, Because a White Manll Never Do It, Angus & Robertson, 1973
Reprinted by kind permission of Harper Collins, publishers
The Commonwealth government found that it had no power to remove the
protesters. Not accepting this, it created a new ordinance that made camping on public
land in the Australian Capital Territory illegal. On 20 July 1972, six months after the
establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Commonwealth police pulled the
tents down. This was filmed by television crews. Aboriginal Australians and their
white supporters from around Australia arrived in Canberra to put the tents back up
and continue the protest. The police again pulled the tents down. In source 6.40, well-
known Aboriginal figure Mum Shirl describes what happened.
Source 6.40
Excerpt from Mum Shirls autobiography
The young Blacks were getting buses ready now to go up to Canberra to put the Embassy back up.
I went too, to help if I could. I took some very young children with me because I knew this would be
a marvellous moment in history and I didnt want any Black kids to miss it.
What I saw up there would put a shock into anyone. The police came running over in hundreds
and began beating up on the Black women who had grabbed each others hands and were
standing in a big circle around the tent and the men who were protecting the tent They punched
them, knocked them to the ground and then jumped on their guts. I couldnt believe my eyes. All this
was taking place right outside Parliament House, that great white building where I was told the laws
were made and the country is governed. The television cameras were everywhere, but it didnt stop
them I prayed that I would never see such a thing again in my life.
Mum Shirl: An Autobiographywith the assistance of Bobbi Sykes, Heinemann, 1981
Reprinted by kind permission of Reed Educational and Professional Publishers
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy became the centre of Aboriginal demands for social
justice, compensation and land rights. Aboriginal people from around Australia came
to join the protest in Canberra. The embassy, as a new and highly dramatic form of
protest, received a great deal of media and political attention, both nationally and
internationally. Aboriginal land rights and social justice demands had become a public
issue that could no longer be ignored.
254
Working
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Comprehension
1 Who designed the Aboriginal flag?
2 When was the Aboriginal Tent Embassy established?
3 Where was the Aboriginal Tent Embassy established?
4 Read source 6.39. Identify four reasons why the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established.
5 Read source 6.40. Why did Mum Shirl take young children with her to Canberra?
1 What law was used to remove the Aboriginal Tent Embassy?
2 Why do you think the Aboriginal Tent Embassy became so symbolically important to the
struggle for Aboriginal rights?
3 What effect do you think the governments decision to send in the police to remove the
embassy would have had on public opinion?
Communication
Refer to source 6.40. Imagine that you were a tourist visiting Parliament House and saw this
happen. Write a one-page letter home about what you saw and how you felt about it.
The Mabo decision
In 1982, Eddie Koiki Mabo, along with
four other Meriam people from Mer Island
in the Torres Strait, began a case in the
High Court seeking recognition of their
traditional ownership of the island. On 3
June 1992, six months after Eddie Mabos
death, the High Court handed down its
decision (see source 6.42). The High Court
recognised the Mer Islanders traditional
ownership of the land. In doing this,
they overturned the legal fiction of terra
nullius. The term native title was used
by the High Court to describe traditional
ownership of land that predated the
arrival of Europeans.
Source 6.42
Land belonging to no-one
As England expanded its rule over other peoples territories over the centuries, English law generally
recognised pre-existing rights in relation to those lands. This was the experience in relation to Ireland
and Wales, and later in Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific. However, in Australias case the colonial
authorities refused to acknowledge that the indigenous peoples had any legal rights in land, preferring
instead to see the land as terra nulliusland belonging to no-one. Australia seemed to remain the
exception until the High Court in Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) on 3 June 1992 declared that Australian
law recognised the title of indigenous Australians to their traditional lands and waters.
The Native Title Amendment Bill 1997: Issues for Indigenous Peoples,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, October 1997
Source 6.41
Eddie Mabo
Terra nullius is the
idea that the land was
without legal owners
when Europeans first
arrived.
255
Working
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Comprehension
1 Who took the case that led to the Mabo decision to the High Court?
2 What were they seeking legal recognition of?
3 Did the High Court decide in their favour?
4 What did the High Court ruling recognise?
5 What do you think the term legal fiction means?
6 Explain, in your own words, the term terra nullius.
Communication
Write a one-page biography of Eddie Mabo. You may be able to locate a copy of the video
Mabo, Life of an Island Man to watch. The following titles would also be useful:
Australian Encyclopaedia
The Oxford Companion to Australian History
Research
1 Research the recognition of indigenous land rights in one other country. For instance,
you could research New Zealand, Canada or the United States.
2 Use your research and the information in this unit. How do you think Australia compares
with other countries in terms of its recognition of indigenous rights?
Native title
In 1993, the Keating government passed the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwlth).
This Act created a legal and administrative process to manage native title
claims made by Aboriginal communities (source 6.44).
Native title requires that Aboriginal communities who attempt to claim
title to their traditional lands must demonstrate continuous connection to
that land through traditional law and custom since the time of European
invasion. This is often difficult, given the history of forced movement and
forced assimilation that Aboriginal peoples have suffered. Many Aboriginal
Australians have no rights under the Native Title Act. This includes many
people of the stolen generations. As with land rights, native title can only
be claimed over Crown and other public lands. Freehold land is not open
to native title claims.
Native title does not necessarily mean legal ownership of the land such
as freehold title. In many cases, it just means that Aboriginal peoples have
the legal right to use land in traditional ways such as for hunting, fishing
and conducting ceremonies.
Freehold land is land
that has passed into
private ownership.
Source 6.43
Cover of the Native Title Act 1993
Source 6.44
Native title
Native title is the term used to describe the recognition in Australian law of the rights of Aboriginal
people and Torres Strait Islanders to land and waters under their laws and customs
To indigenous peoples land represents much more than an economic asset, although it is this as
well. The land is the basis for the creation stories, for religions, spirituality, art and culture. It is also
the basis for relationships between people and with earlier and future generations. The loss of land, or
damage to land, can cause immense hardship to indigenous peoples.
The Native Title Amendment Bill 1997: Issues for Indigenous Peoples,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, October 1997
256
Comprehension
1 When was the Native Title Act passed?
2 What land can be made over on native title claims?
3 What form can native title take?
4 Read source 6.44. To what does the term native title refer?
5 What led to the creation of the Native Title Act?
6 In your own words, describe what the land means to Indigenous peoples.
7 What do Aboriginal communities have to demonstrate in order to claim native title?
6.1b How have the rights and freedoms of migrants in
Australia changed during the post-war period?
Change over time
Changing patterns of migration
The following sources provide information about the changing patterns of migration to
Australia.
Working
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Australian Census
Source 6.45
Birthplace of people living in Australia, 1947
British
Isles
Other
Countries
20.3%
Southern
Europe
6.9%
Wales 1.6%
Ireland 6.0%
Scotland 13.8%
England 51.3%
Total Northern Europe 4.5%
Total Eastern Europe 3.1%
Other Europe 0.3%
USA 1.56%
Africa 1.01%
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 1.09%
China 0.86%
Cyprus 0.09%
New Zealand 5.9%
Papua New Guinea 0.2%
Oceania (Pacific Islands),
Born at sea 0.6%
Other 1.09%
Italy 4.5%
Greece 1.7%
Cyprus 0.1%
Malta 0.4%
Spain 0.1%
Other 0.2%
The National Times, 21 October 1978
Source 6.46
The Unknown Migrant Woman, Patrick Cook
257
Australian Census
Source 6.47
Top 30 countries of origin of Australian immigrants, 194585
British
Isles
57%
Other
Countries
43%
South Africa 0.7%
Canada 0.6%
Denmark 0.4%
Lebanon 1.4%
Germany 3.3%
Czechoslovakia 0.5%
Spain 0.7%
Cyprus 0.4%
Portugal 0.6%
Austria 0.7%
The Philippines 0.6%
New Zealand 3.6%
Sri Lanka 0.5%
The Netherlands 3.8%
Hungary 0.8%
Switzerland 0.4%
Italy 8.8%
Poland 2.4%
Finland 0.4%
Yugoslavia 4.2%
India 0.7%
Turkey 0.7%
USA 1.7%
France 0.6%
Greece 5.2%
Vietnam 2.0%
Malta 0.6%
USSR 0.4%
Malaysia 0.5%
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 Source 6.45 gives information on birthplace groupings.
a Which group did most immigrants to Australia come from in 1947? What percentage
of all immigrants did this group account for?
b Make a list of the 10 countries where most immigrants came from. Indicate the
percentage of total immigrants.
2 From source 6.47, make a list of the 10 countries where most immigrants came from.
Indicate the percentage of total immigrants.
1 Compare the lists you made from sources 6.45 and 6.47. What changes in the pattern of
immigration can you see?
2 What reasons do you think could be given for the change in Australias pattern of
migration?
3 Examine source 6.46. What does this cartoon tell us about changing patterns of
migration after World War II?
Research
What was the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme? Where did most of the labour force for
this scheme come from?
258
Group
A post-World War II migrant groupIndians
Chronology
1970 Radhakrishnan Nagarajan, a senior engineer in the Indian Public Service, moves to Sydney to work
with the Australian Standards Association.
1971 The rest of the Nagarajan family joins Radhakrishnan Nagarajan in Sydney.
1973 The family moves to Eastwood.
Source 6.48
Radhakrishnan Nagarajan and Nalini Nagarajan (left at rear) and
their daughter Vijaya (seated left) at a wedding in Madras, India, c.1963
Source 6.49
Vijaya Nagarajan and her daughters Jaya Keaney
(left) and Asha Keaney (right)
259
Source 6.50
(From left to right) Vijaya Nagarajan and daughters Asha and Jaya, Vijayas mother Nalini Nagarajan with her
youngest daughter Akhila Nagarajan holding her daughter Malathi Waller. This photograph was taken at the
Murugan Hindu Temple, Westmead, Sydney, in 2002.
Source 6.51
Family tree
Radhakrishnan Nagarajan
(Engineer)
Nalini Nagarajan
(Public Health Administrator NSW Health)
(Barrister)
Vijaya
(University
Law lecturer)
Jaya Asha
Lewis Waller
(Engineer)
Akhila
(IT Manager)
Malathi Vivek
Murali
(Engineer)
Mirinda Moore
(Administrator)
Krishna
Terry Keaney
Source 6.52
Murugan Hindu Temple, Westmead, website
www.tamilnet.net.au/sydmurugan
260
Working
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Comprehension
1 Describe the way in which the Nagarajan family moved to Sydney.
2 How many generations of Nagarajans were there living in Australia in 2002?
3 Describe the types of occupations that the Nagarajan family have been involved in.
4 Describe at least two influences on Australian life that Indian migrants have had.
ICT
Go to the website shown in source 6.52. What historical information is included in this site? How
useful is it for investigating the experiences of Indians in Australian society?
Communication
Use sources 6.48 to 6.52. Write a 250-word account of the Nagarajan family from 1970 to 2002.
Enemy aliens in World War I
Seven thousand people were interned in Australia during World War II. Some were
aliens that is, not Australia citizens; some were naturalised; and others were
Australian born. (Over 4000 people were interned during World War I.) The greatest
concentration of people interned in World War II were Italians from North Queensland
sugar areas. This indicated that official and public desire for internment was not just
about wartime anxiety. These feelings also sprang from earlier hostilities towards
non-British immigrants, especially those from southern Europe.
Italians in Australia during World War II
On 10 June 1940, Mussolini declared war on Great Britain and France from the balcony
of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome. The following day, Australia, in association with Great
Britain, declared war on Italy.
The Commonwealth government developed a policy of selective internment of
Italians. Most were not considered to pose any security risk. By August 1940, 1901
Italians had been arrested by police, detained in jail and placed in internment camps.
Internees could remain in jail from between one day to three weeks. Internment camps
To be interned is
to be confined to a
concentration camp.
Source 6.53
An interned Italian family
Australian War Memorial 052597
261
were located at Liverpool, Orange and
Hay in New South Wales, Graythorne in
Queensland, Loveday in South Australia
and Murchison in Victoria.
The vast majority of Italians who were
not interned faced problems other than
the often boring conditions in camps.
Italian fruit-shop owners at Bondi in
Sydney, for example, had to close their
premises after racial hatred was stirred
up by anti-Italian articles in the Bondi
Daily and the Balmain Observer. There
were, however, few opens acts of violence
against Italians. Most hostility was covert.
Some Italian fruit-shop owners put
their Australian naturalisation papers in
their shop windows to demonstrate their
Australian citizenship and avoid loss of
customers or damage to their shops.
The number of Italian internees peaked
at 3651 in early 1942. They were released
over the next few years. Two main factors
were behind this: it became apparent that
Australias Italians did not pose a threat,
and fear of Japanese invasion declined.
By the end of 1944, only 135 Italians
remained interned. All were Fascists.
Covert means hidden
or subtle.
Source 6.54
Pall bearers lowering the coffin into the grave during the funeral an Italian
internee who died while interned at the Loveday POW and internment camp at
Barmera, South Australia
Source 6.55
Releasing Italian internees, 1943
262
Working
historically
Source 6.56
Watering young tomatoes, Loveday Internment Group
by Max Ragless, 1945
Oil on canvas, 1945, 40.5 x 51.3 cm. Australian War Memorial
ART23408
Comprehension
1 How many people were interned during World War II?
2 What was the nationality of the majority of people interned during World War II?
3 What did the internment of Italians indicate?
4 What policy did the Commonwealth government adopt towards Italians?
5 How many Australian-Italians had been arrested and interned by August 1940?
6 Name the internment camps in Australia.
7 What happened to some Italians who were not interned?
8 Write your own definition of covert.
9 What did some Italian fruit-shop owners do? Why?
10 What was the total number of Italian internees, and when was this number reached?
11 Why did the Australian government release Italian internees?
1 What are sources 6.53, 6.54 and 6.55?
2 Are these primary or secondary sources?
3 What do you think was the purpose of these sources?
4 What is shown in source 6.53?
7 a What is source 6.56 and who created it?
b Describe what is shown in this source?
Select source 6.54, 6.55 or 6.56. Now chose a person depicted in that source, and write a letter
to someone outside the interment camp describing where they are and how they are feeling.
Research
Research the general experience of Italian migrants in Australia after World War II. Write a
two-page report. The following book will be useful: James Jupp (ed.), The Australian People.
Communication
Using sources 6.53 to 6.56, describe some of the experiences of Italian internees during World
War II.
263
Working
historically
Events/issues
The Snowy Mountains Scheme
Research
Write a report on the contribution of migrants to the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme.
Include:
a brief overview of the scheme
approximately how many migrants were employed on the Snowy scheme and where they
came from
the experience of some of the migrant workers and their families
Siobhan McHughs book The Snowy (1989) will be useful.
Source 6.57
The Snowy Mountains scheme construction in progress
264
Source 6.59
Vietnamese refugees
Source 6.60
Refugees on board the Tampa, 2001, after being
rescued from their boat off the coast of Australia
Refugees
resurrect old
fears
Boat people are refugees from South-East
Asia or the Middle East who fled other
countries in boats from 1973. The boats
are often fishing vessels. These are usu-
ally overcrowded and conditions are poor
aboard.
A significant number of boat people
died in their attempt to leave their coun-
try. Some were attacked by pirates. Others
drowned because the boat was unseawor-
thy and sank. Disease killed others.
The term boat people is also used
to describe refugees who try to come
to Australia by boat without official
approval.
Australias first boat people arrived in
Darwin in 1976 from Vietnam after the
fall of Saigon. They were initially accept-
ed because of changing political and dip-
lomatic circumstances in Australia.
Under the Whitlam Labor Government
(197375), it seemed that foreign real-
tions were taking new, dramatic direc-
tions. China was given diplomatic
recognition and Australia began to look
more to Asia than to the United States for
economic and other reasons.
The federal government also worked
hard to dispel Australias international
reputation for being racist.
The Fraser governement (197683)
continued to follow these general direc-
tions in relations with Asia. Cooperation
with China was maintained. A concern
with international human rights also led
the government to accept boat people.
Boat people were to arrive later from
Kampuchea (Cambodia) and China in the
1980s and early 1990s. Racist attitudes,
however, flared up with the arrival of boat
people.
Some Australians claimed that the
country would be overrun by refugees
from Asia. This reaction echoed older
fears of a Yellow Peril.
During the 1850s gold rushes, white
diggers reacted at times violently to the
presence of Chinese on the goldfields.
Japans rise as a Pacific power in the
early 1900s heightened fears of an Asian
invasion of Australia.
World War II and the Cold War saw
new expressions of the Yellow Peril.
The term was revived in the late 1970s
by people who were prejudiced against
Indochinese boat people.
Australia was not overrun by boat peo-
ple. By 1982 just over 2000 refugees had
arrived in Australia directly by boat.
In the mid-1990s only about one per
cent of Australias population was from
Indochina.
For a time, the federal government
was favourable towards boat people.
Australia played a role in the second
Geneva Convention on refugees in 1979.
And it contributed to finding an interna-
tional solution to the problems of refugee
resettlement.
During the 1980s the status of
Indochinese refugees became increas-
ingly controversial. Many were refused
entry to Australia.
Fears generated by globalisation and a
declining Australian economy contributed
to changing attitudes towards refugees.
In the lead-up to the federal election
on 10 November 2001, a controversy
blew up over the refusal of the Australian
government to allow refugees aboard the
Tampa to land in Australia.
Australia prides itself on being an
egalitarian country that gives people a
fair go. This is supposed to be part of
the Australian national identity. But the
Tampa incident challenged this.
After the election, former Labor
prime minister Paul Keating said that
Liberal prime minister John Howard had
appealed to the fear held by Australians
that they might be inundated by a flood
of people from other countries. But both
the Liberal and the Labor parties had
taken the same stance on the issue of
boat people.
Source 6.58
Refugees resurrect old fears
Paul Ashton in The Australian, Exploring Australias Identity, February 2002, p. 2
Boat people
265
Working
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Comprehension
Refer to source 6.58.
1 Define the term boat people.
2 When did Australias first boat people arrive?
3 What happened to a significant number of boat people?
4 Describe the Whitlam Labor governments attitude to boat people.
5 What was the Fraser governments attitude towards Asia?
6 What was the yellow peril?
7 What did World War II and the Cold War do in regard to Asia?
8 By the mid-1990s, what percentage of people in Australia were from Indochina?
9 What did Australia play a role in during the 1970s?
10 What contributed to growing fears in Australia about Asia?
11 What did the Tampa incident do? Why?
12 What did Paul Keating accuse John Howard of doing?
1 What is source 6.58?
2 Is this a primary or a secondary source?
3 When was this source created and what was happening at the time?
4 In this source, what is fact and what is opinion?
5 How useful is source 6.58 in contributing to our understanding of boat people?
1 What may have been John Howards motive in refusing to allow refugees from the
Tampa into Australia?
2 What may have led ordinary Australians to fear boat people?
3 What did the attitude of many Australian towards boat people in the late 1990s and
early 2000s indicate about Australians at the time?
Research
Find out where the asylum seekers on the Norwegian vessel the Tampa came from.
Communication
If you were to debate the topic of giving boat people refuge, list the arguments you would use for
the affirmative (For) side.
ICT
Find a website that describes the experience of boat people. Write a one-page report on the
different experiences of boat people from 1976 to the present.
266
Multiculturalism
The word multiculturalism was coined by the Canadian federal government in 1971 to
acknowledge the bi-cultural nature of Canadian society. It wished to establish a policy
that recognised differences while maintaining different ethnic, cultural and linguistic
communities.
Al Grassby, minister for immigration in the federal Whitlam Labor government, used
the term officially in 1973. Grassby had two meanings for multiculturalism. Firstly, he
used it to broadly describe ethnic diversity in Australia. Secondly, it was put forward
as the basis for a new social policy to replace assimilation which, although officially
dropped, lingered on. In an ideal Australian multicultural society, migrants and
Indigenous peoples would not be required to assimilate into white Australian culture.
Rather, ethnic diversity would be recognised and supported and Aboriginal people and
migrants would enter Australian society at their own pace and keep as much of their
culture as they chose.
Why multiculturalism?
Multiculturalism was introduced for a number of reasons. By the early 1970s,
the impact of post-World War II migration had profoundly changed Australias
demography. The old practice of assimilation was no longer workable. Because of these
demographic changes, a new ideology for settling people in Australia and minimising
social conflict was needed. Multiculturalism was the new ideology.
Other factors helped to bring about the policy of multiculturalism. The new Whitlam
government wished to distance itself from the previous LiberalCountry Partys policy,
which still had strong associations with assimilation. International opinion regarding
the rights of indigenous and ethnic populations also had some influence.
Source 6.61
Migrants from Europe arrive in Sydney in the 1950s
Demography is
the basic make up
or structure of a
population.
An ideology is a
political or cultural
plan or idea.
267
Working
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Comprehension
1 When and where was the word multiculturalism coined?
2 Who first used the word in Australia? When?
3 What meanings did the word have for Grassby?
4 What was multiculturalism meant to replace?
5 Why was multiculturalism introduced?
6 a What is an ideology?
b Why can multiculturalism be thought of as an ideology?
7 What other factors influenced the introduction of the policy?
The impact of multiculturalism on Australian society
As an ideology, multiculturalism has generated debate and controversy. From the early
1980s, public debates over multiculturalism became increasingly heated and populist.
Multiculturalism in many ways polarised Australian society. On the one hand, there
were those who wanted to support and promote ethnic diversity. On the other hand,
there were people who saw multiculturalism as a threat to traditional Australia and
to British heritage.
Multiculturalism also exposed the continuation of racist attitudes. Reactions to
multiculturalism tended to become more fierce during times of economic recession
and rapid globalisation. Right-wing responses to multiculturalism have included the
dismantling of services and the rise of populist and reactionary political parties. The
latter included the One Nation Party, which was formed in 1996. Led by Pauline
Hanson, this populist party had few coherent policies, was anti-Asian and appealed in
particular to people in parts of rural Australia that were in severe economic trouble.
Politically, however, multiculturalism has not gained consistent support from any
party.
Source 6.62
Multiculturalism
The multicultural policy has, at times, tended to emphasise the rights of ethnic minorities at the
expense of the majority of Australians, thus unnecessarily encouraging divisions and weakening
social cohesion. It has tended to be anti-British, and yet the people from the United Kingdom and
Ireland form the dominant class of pre-war immigrants and the largest single group of post-war
immigrants.
Recent governments emphasise the merits of a multicultural society and ignore the dangers. And
yet the evidence is clear that many multicultural societies have failed and that the human cost of
the failure has been high. Many of our refugees actually come from multicultural societies that are
faltering or in disarray.
There are dangers in the increasing belief that toleration can simply be imposed on people by
a variety of new laws and by a bureaucracy specialising in ethnic affairs, cultural relations and
human rights. Unfortunately, the laws and regulatory bodies, introduced in the hope of promoting
toleration, can be invoked to attack freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and those principles
on which minority rights must, in the last resort, depend. A sensible humane immigration policy
is more likely than most of these new agencies and lawspresent or proposedto maintain and
foster ethnic and racial toleration.
It is easier to maintain a reasonable level of toleration in a society by regulating the inflow of
migrants and selecting the categories of migrants with care than it is to maintain toleration after an
unacceptably large inflow of migrants has arrived at an inopportune time or inopportune places.
Geoffrey Blainey, All for Australia, Methuen Haynes, Sydney, 1984
Populist means aimed
at gaining public
support; a person
who promotes such
ideas is called a
populist.
Polarise means to split
into directly opposing
groups.
268
Working
historically
Source 6.63
Blaineys stand must be countered
I leave it to others to debate and refute Professor Blaineys extraordinary claim
in his book All for Australia that there exists in the labyrinths of the Canberra
bureaucracy a conspiracy of immigration officials and politicians against Henry
Parkess ideal society of White Anglo-Celtic Independent Australian Britons.
Some of the contemporary evidence cited by Professor Blainey is, by implication and
result, racist in character and socially destructive in object. For over 20 years many
academic historians of Australia have been at some pains to analyse and explain the
reasons for the extreme racial prejudice and exclusion which existed in the 19th century
and for two-thirds of the present century.
In essence, his private evidence, with its fears, prejudices and hatreds, matches that
of the old Bulletin Most of us had hoped that scholarly and dispassionate analysis
of some of the darker aspects of white Australians past would contribute to a more
mature, tolerant and compassionate society which some of us hope is still emerging as
we approach our bicentenary
Duncan Waterson, Professor of History, Macquarie University
The Sydney Morning Herald, 1984, Letters to the Editor
Source 6.64
Our problem with multiculturalism
Multiculturalism remains a term wreathed with the residues of strong political and social
disagreements. It is a state ideology, constructed out of the social relations of the past two decades
of Australian life, and designed to sustain harmony and prevent discord and conflict. It can be
used by various participants in the discourse of multiculturalism, to encompass at the same time
arguments for basic rights in Australia which transcend [go beyond] ethnic or racial differences, and
arguments which seek to stress those differences as paramount and unbridgeable.
Andrew Jakubowicz et al., Racism, Ethnicity and the Media, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1994, p. 179
Comprehension
1 What has multiculturalism generated?
2 What did the debate over multiculturalism become?
3 What does populist mean?
4 What did multiculturalism do to Australian society?
5 Describe the two opposing positions on multiculturalism.
6 When did debates become particularly fierce?
7 Describe some of the responses to multiculturalism.
Perspectives and interpretations
1 Read source 6.62. What, for Blainey, did multicultural policy tend to do?
2 Describe two dangers that Blainey sees in following a policy of multiculturalism.
3 What is Blaineys solution for maintaining tolerance in Australian society?
4 Could Blaineys view be described as populist?
5 What ideal was Blainey trying to protect from immigration officials and politicians?
6 Read source 6.63. For Waterson, what was Blaineys evidence?
7 What had some academic historians been doing for over 20 years?
269
8 What did Blaineys private evidence contain?
9 With what did Waterson compare Blaineys views?
10 What did Waterson hope for?
11 Read source 6.64. For Jakubowicz, writing in the 1990s, what did the term
multiculturalism remain?
12 In Jakubowiczs view, what was multiculturalism?
13 a Describe the two arguments that multiculturalism could be used to support.
b Are these contradictory (in opposition to each other)? Why?
Communication
It is 1984 and Geoffrey Blaineys book has just been released. You have read Watersons letter to
the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald (source 6.63). Write a letter to the editor in support of
either Waterson or Blainey.
Research
How has multiculturalism influenced Australian society?
6.1c How have the rights and freedoms of women in
Australia changed during the post-war period?
Chronology
1945 Most women in paid industrial work earning 75% of basic male rates
1956 Womans Day magazine launched by the Fairfax Group (24 December).
1959 New South Wales female state school teachers, first women since 1902 to win equal pay.
1961 Oral contraceptives commercially available for women.
1966 Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin first woman to become a federal minister.
1970 Publication of Germaine Greers book The Female Eunuch.
1972 Child Care Act passed by federal government giving grants to non-profit child care centres.
1972 Formation of the Womens Electoral Lobby; Cleo launched by Consolidated Press.
1972 Elizabeth Evatt becomes first woman president of the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.
1973 Womens organised protest campaign in Wollongong leads to Australian Iron and Steel employing
women in mens jobs for the first time since World War II.
1973 Twelve weeks paid maternity leave plus up to 42 weeks without pay available to women in federal
public service.
1974 Womens refuge set up by feminist activists in Glebe, Sydney, in a vacant terrace house.
1975 International Womens year.
1976 Mary Gaudron, first woman to become solicitor-general in New South Wales.
1976 Family Law Act comes into force; allowed for divorce based on 12 months separation; Elizabeth
Evatt appointed first chief judge.
1977 Anti Discrimination Act comes into force in New South Wales.
1977 Isobel Coe, an Aboriginal woman, awarded $100 damages in Moree District Court, New South
Wales, against a publican who had refused her entrance to his hotel.
1979 One years unpaid maternity leave adopted under federal awards.
1980 Sexual harassment first discussed as a workplace issue at Women and Labour Conference.
1983 Sex Discrimination Act passed by federal Senate; discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, sex or
marital status becomes illegal.
270
Change over time
Achievements of the Womens Liberation movement in the post-World War II period
Womens liberation, or the womens movement, was a second wave of feminist
activism. The first wave took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and
concentrated on getting women the vote and into universities. Second-wave feminists
campaigned for equal pay, equal opportunities, anti-discrimination legislation, child and
maternal welfare, divorce laws and childcare. They also demanded freedom of choice
for women, not only for education and employment, but for marriage, contraception
and abortion. Feminists wanted to remodel society and give women fair and equal
access to careers as well as family life.
The strategies adopted were as varied as the goals of the womens movement.
Women wrote books, marched in the streets, ran campaigns, organised conferences and
lobbied politicians. Some women set up small, informal groups. Others set up womens
crisis and health centres. Yet others formed formal organisations such as the Womens
Electoral Lobby (1972).
Not all the aims of the womens movement were achieved. And some achievements
were less permanent than others. But the movement did produce changes in both the
private and public spheres. Indeed, second-wave feminists also worked to break down
the distinction between private and public spheres. For example, some feminists argued
that unpaid work in the private sphere (such as raising children) was as important as
paid work in the public sphere (source 6.66).
Source 6.65
A march in the 1970s promoting womens rights
271
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historically
Source 6.66
Women and Australian history
A history of women should do more that restore women to the pages of history books. It must
analyse why public life has been considered to be the focus of history, and why public life has been
so thoroughly occupied by men.
Ann Curthoys, Historiography and Womens Liberation, Arena, 1970, p. 2
Source 6.67
Great men and history
Prior to 1970 Australian historians wrote little about women. There were few women employed in
Australian university history departments before the 1960s, and they shared the view of their male
colleagues that womens history was trivial. Historical orthodoxy emphasised the role of great men in
exploring and building a nation.
Greg Patmore, Australian Labour History, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1991, p. 161
Comprehension
1 What was the womens liberation movement?
2 What were some of the goals of this movement?
3 What were some of the strategies adopted by feminists?
4 Read source 6.66. What two things does Curthoys argue that a history of women
should do?
5 Read source 6.67. Before 1970, what were most Australian historians writing about?
6 Using the above text and the chronology, compile a list of some of the early
achievements of the womens movement.
Research
Choose one of the books listed below to answer the following questions.
Anne Summers, Damned Whores and Gods Police
Beverley Kingston, My Wife, My Daughter and Poor Mary Ann
Miriam Dixon, The Real Matilda
1 When was the book published?
2 Who was the author? (There may be information about the author on the book
cover or in the preliminary pages of the book.)
3 What is the book about?
4 What are the chapter titles in the book?
Group
Women in the Great Depression
The 1930s Depression had a wide variety of impacts on women in Australia. Some
women were not affected at all by the economic downturn. Others had to take paid
work when their husbands lost their jobs. Some trade unionists accused women of
taking employment away from men. Employers were often keen to give women work
since their rates of pay were much lower than those for men.
During the Depression, most womens wages were reduced. Some forms of womens
work were not affected by job losses. These included domestic service and nursing.
Many women factory workers, however, lost their jobs. Unemployed women with
272
Working
historically
families could receive the dole, but most single unemployed women were not given the
dole. Some women left the city and looked for seasonal work in the country. Others took
part in privately organised schemes such as the Unemployed Girls Relief Movement.
Comprehension
1 What happened to some women who took on paid work?
2 Describe five different experiences of women in the Depression.
Analysing and using sources
Look at source 3.18 on page 107. How useful is this source in providing information about
different ways in which women experienced the depression?
Womens liberation post-World War II
Chronology
1972 Formation of Sydney Womens Film Group.
1973 Feminist journal Refactory Girl commences publication.
1976 Rape in marriage made a criminal offence (South Australia).
First womens crisis centre established in Australia.
1980 After a legal battle against Ansett, Debra Wardley becomes the first female commercial pilot.
1981 Mary Gaudron becomes the New South Wales solicitor-general. She is the first woman to hold such
a position in Australia.
1984 The federal Sex Discrimination Act is passed.
1985 The journal Australian Feminist Studies commences publication.
Federal Affirmative Action legislation is passed.
The feminist movement
The feminist movement grew out of the
womens liberation movement. Womens
liberation was a more radical movement
that developed in the protest days of the
late 1960s and early 1970s. It had shocked
many older, conservative womens
organisations, such as the Country
Womens Association. After the Whitlam
government was sacked there was a sharp
drop in the rate of change in Australian
society. But the womens movement
continued to grow. By the mid-1970s, it
became know as the feminist movement.
This indicated that the womens
movement had become broadly based.
It did not, however, include significant
numbers of Indigenous women. The
feminist movement consisted (and still
consists) mainly of white women.
Source 6.68
Debra Wardley, 1980
273
The feminist movement made significant gains for women in the 1970s despite
an economic downturn and the election of a conservative federal government. The
womens lobby had become so diverse and strong that it could not be brushed aside by
politicians and others. Feminists discussed and demanded a range of womens needs,
equal opportunity, maternity leave and remedies for domestic violence.
Feminists made their way into bureaucracies. These women became known
as femocrats. They influenced government policy and practices. In New South
Wales, feminists had a significant influence on attitudes and practices regarding the
employment of women in the public service. Women also made inroads into the private
sector. More women moved into politics. There was also a boom in womens creative
and intellectual work in fields such as film making, literature and art. The feminist
movement had impacts on other areas of Australian life, including school curriculums
and Australian language.
Source 6.69
The womens movement since 1970
if feminists were pleased with their
successes, and conscious of the changes
they had witnessed, there was nevertheless a
strong strand of pessimism within the womens
movement. In some ways, feminism with its
stress on actually existing male power and the
need for female solidarity is the ideal ideology
for perpetual struggle. Despite the considerable
changes that had occurred since 1970 in pay
rates, employment patterns and opportunities,
access to abortion and contraception, as well as
the availability of child-care feminists continued
to point to ongoing inequalities and injustices
in a male-centred world. Womens actual take-
home pay continued to be far less than mens;
there were still many occupations where it was
rare to find women And so the list could go
on. Even worse, perhaps was the growth of
conservative womens organisations, opposing
many feminist demands This, then, is one
story which most definitely cannot have a neat
ending.
Ann Curthoys, Doing it for themselves: The womens movement
since 1970, in Kay Saunders & Raymond Evans (eds), Gender
Relations in Australia: Domination and Negotiation, Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, Sydney, 1992
Source 6.70
Pamphlet about sexual harassment and womens
rights in the workplace, 1984
274
Comprehension
1 Out of what did the feminist movement grow?
2 a What happened to the womens movement after the sacking of the Whitlam
government?
b What did this indicate?
3 What does the feminist movement mainly consist of?
4 a By the mid-1970s, what had the womens movement become?
b How did this affect the attitude of politicians towards the womens movement?
5 Describe some of the demands made by women.
6 Into what areas did women move in greater numbers?
7 On what other areas did women have an impact?
8 Read source 6.69.
a Describe some of the changes that had occurred since 1970.
b What did women continue to fight against?
c What does Curthoys mean when she says that the story of the womens movement is
one that most definitely cannot have a neat ending?
d Define pessimism. Why do you think that there was a strong strand of pessimism
within the womens movement?
Look at source 6.70.
1 When and by whom was this source made?
2 Using this source, how would you define sexual harassment?
3 What does this source tell us about the attitudes and practices of some men towards
some women?
4 How was sexual harassment dealt with in this source?
Research
Write a 200-word biography of one of the following women. You must discuss how she has
contributed to Australian society.
Franca Arena
Tracey Moffatt
Drusilla Modjeska
Margaret Reynolds
Working
historically
275
Events/issues
Womens suffrage
Suffrage refers to the right to vote, especially in political elections. The suffrage
movement in Australia was tied to an international movement. This was particularly
influential in Britain and the United States of America from the late 19th century.
Australia and New Zealand, however, developed strong suffrage movements that had
impacts on other countries. People who were against womens suffrage often argued
that a womans place was in the home.
Vida Goldstein
Look carefully at the following sources, which contain information about Vida
Goldstein, who was very active in the suffrage movement.
Source 6.71
Front page of The Woman Voter, 11 August 1914
The Woman Voter, 11 August 1914, p. 1
276
Source 6.73
The entry for Vida Goldstein in The Australian Dictionary of Biography
GOLDSTEIN, VIDA JANE MARY (18691949), feminist and suffragist, was born on 13 April 1869
at Portland, Victoria ... Vidas mother was a confirmed suffragist ... and a ... [hard] worker for social
reform. Vidas own public career began about 1890 when she helped her mother collect signatures
for the huge Woman Suffrage Petition ... She read widely on political, economic and legislative
subjects and attended Victorian parliamentary sessions ... In 1899 ... she was undisputed leader of
the radical womans movement in Victoria, and that year made her first public-speaking appearance
to advocate the vote for women ... Between 1899 and 1908 Vidas first priority was the suffrage.
... Vida returned to national politics and made four ... attempts to gain election to federal
parliament ... Vida actively promoted womens rights and emancipation in many other ways ... She
helped to found or support many womens organisations including the National Council of Women
... She died of cancer at her home in South Yarra on 15 August 1949 and was cremated. Her death
passed almost unnoticed ...
Janice N. Brownfoots entry in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 9, 18911939, pp. 43;45
Source 6.72
From The Woman Voter
The Woman Voter, 23 February 1915, p. 1
277
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 What was womens suffrage?
2 How much did The Woman Voter cost in 1914?
3 a What was the election fund for?
b How much was in it in 1914?
4 Where was Vida Goldstein born?
5 Do you think that Vida may have been influenced by her mother? Why?
6 What was Vidas first priority between 1899 and 1908?
7 How many attempts after 1908 did Vida make to be elected to federal parliament?
8 Using sources 6.71, 6.72 and 6.73 make a chronology about Vida Goldsteins life.
Include at least ten entries in point form.
1 a What is source 6.71?
b When was it published?
2 Describe three sorts of work that Vida Goldstein was doing in 1915.
3 a Where was Vida Goldstein collecting parcels?
b Why was she collecting them?
Communication
Use your chronology and any information from sources 6.71, 6.72 and 6.73 to write a short
biography of Vida Goldstein.
Women in parliament
The first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament was Edith Cowan. The
number of women in parliaments grew very slowly. Indeed, women were not generally
expected to enter formal politics. The original building plans for the federal parliament
house in Canberra, which opened in 1927, did not include female toilets in the
legislative part of the building.
By 1992 there were 118 women in Australias parliaments out of a total of 842
parliamentarians. Females represented 14% of members of parliament; they represented
over 50% of the population.
Edith Cowan
In the 1920s, Australia was still very much a mans world. Heather Radi
described it as a society that held obvious masculinity in high regard.
Women were neither expected nor encouraged to be active in public life.
Home and family were the womans only domains.
But from these social conditions came Australias first female
parliamentarian.
Edith Brown was born in 1861 in Geraldton, Western Australia (source
6.74). Her early life on a farm was tragic, as her mother died when she
was seven and her father was hanged for shooting his second wife. Despite
these traumatic setbacks, Edith managed to continue her studies.
In 1879, she married James Cowan and pursued the life expected of a
woman at that time, caring for the home and her children. Her husband, a
police magistrate at the time, would tell her of cases he was handling. This
generated Ediths interest in social issues, the welfare of deserted wives and
the hardships faced by migrants.
Source 6.74
Edith Cowan
278
Working
historically
In 1912, she was appointed to the Childrens Court where she sat for 18 years. Her
community service, especially during World War I, led to the award of the OBE (Order
of the British Empire). In the Western Australian general elections of 1921, Edith
Cowan was elected to the Legislative Assembly, making her the first female elected to
parliament in Australia (source 6.75).
As the member for West Perth (192124), Edith Cowan achieved many reforms. Her
concerns for social justice and the status of women resulted in legislation that gave
inheritance rights to mothers (previously the father received everything left by a child
who died without a will) and the introduction of the Womens Legal Status Act 1918
which gave professional status to women.
Source 6.75
Extracts from Edith Cowans first speech in Parliament
I stand here today in the unique position of being the first woman in an Australian
Parliament. I know many people think perhaps that it was not the wisest thing to do to
send a woman into Parliament, and perhaps I should remind Hon [honourable] members
that one of the reasons why women and men also considered it advisable to do so, was
because it was felt that men need a reminder sometimes from women beside them that
will make them realise all that can be done for the race and for the home. I have been
sent here more from that standpoint than from any other The views of both sides
are more than ever needed in Parliament today. If men and women can work for the
State side by side and represent all the different sections of the community, and if
the male members of the house would be satisfied to allow women to help them and would
accept their suggestions when they are offered, I cannot doubt that we should do very
much better work in the community than was ever done before.
Western Australian Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 28 July 1921
After her time in politics, Edith Cowan continued community work. She died in June
1932. Memorials to her include Edith Cowan University, the federal parliamentary seat
of Cowan and her image on the Australian $50 note.
Comprehension
1 Match an event to each of the following dates.
a July 1921
b 1912
c 1879
d 1861
2 How many women were in Australian parliaments in
a 1921?
b 1992?
3 a Write definitions for masculine and sexist.
b How do these terms apply to Australian parliaments in the 1920s?
Communication
Imagine you are a reporter on a Sydney newspaper in 1921. Write a 300-word article about the
election of Edith Cowan and her first speech.
ICT
1 Locate the NSW state governments parliamentary website. Find out how many
parliamentarians are women. Repeat this exercise for the Commonwealth parliament.
2 Locate the website for the Womens Electoral Lobby. What are the aims and objectives of
WEL?
279
Equal pay for women
Source 6.76
Minimum average weekly wage female and male adults, 1915 to 1980
Year Female ($) Male ($) % women got
of mens wage
1915 2.73 5.65 48.0
1920 4.45 8.98 49.5
1925 5.06 9.67 52.5
1930 5.36 9.67 55.5
1935 4.50 8.28 54.0
1940 5.43 10.18 53.5
1945 7.34 12.06 61.0
1950 14.04 20.20 69.5
1955 20.69 29.70 69.5
1960 25.17 35.50 70.9
1965 29.10 40.76 71.5
1970 39.68 54.20 73.0
1975 108.55 117.94 92.5
1980 173.82 186.90 92.0
Adapted from Glen Withers et al, Labour, in Wray Vamplew (ed), Australian: Historical Statistics,
Fairfax Syme and Weldon, Sydney, 1987, pp. 1567
Source 6.77
Protest in Sydney for equal pay for women, 1971
280
On 19 June 1969, the Commonwealth Arbitration Court ruled that if women could
prove they were doing work of equal value they should get equal pay. The court also
ruled that this should be phased in by 1 January 1972. However, it was not until 15
December 1972 that the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission adopted the principle
of equal pay for work of equal value. But this did not mean that women got equal pay
or job opportunities.
Source 6.79
Equal pay at last?
... in 1974, the Labor government legislated to allow the [Conciliation and Arbitration] Commission to
abolish the male and female wage concepts and replace them with an adult wage.
The ... [difference] remained, though, and womens wages are still [in 1991] on average only 75
percent of mens wages because women are still ... [mostly] in low paying and part-time jobs, work
less overtime and receive less extra-award pay like bonuses.
Charlie Fox, Working Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991, p. 160
Source 6.78
A newspaper report from The Sun, 19 June 1969
281
Working
historically
Comprehension
1 What percentage of the minimum weekly mens pay were women getting in 1925?
2 When did womens wages start to become very close to mens?
3 By 1980, were men and womens wages equal?
4 Between which years was the greatest jump in the rate of womens wages compared
to mens?
5 Look at source 6.77. What are these people protesting about?
6 Using source 6.76, can you find evidence to support the claims on the protesters
banners in source 6.77?
7 From source 6.79:
a What was abolished in 1974?
b What were they replaced with?
8 On average, what percentage of mens wages do women get? Why?
9 Do you think that this is fair?
1 What does the headline in the newspaper report in source 6.78 imply?
2 Using evidence from sources 6.76 and 6.77, do you think the headline is misleading?
Why?
Communication
Use the percentage figures in the last column of source 6.76. Draw a line graph to plot the
percentage difference between womens and mens wages. Put the years along the horizontal axis
and the percentages on the vertical axis of your graph.

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Changing rights and freedoms

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