practice of systematically removing children from their families. These justifications, though on occasion presented as in some sense "benevolent", led to the same outcome for their Aboriginal and Islander victims - lives of misery and physical, cultural and spiritual deprivation. p> The motivation of the missionaries and governments also reflect a deep underlying racism. Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were seen as backward and barbaric, incapable of determining their own future and therefore without rights. They had to be "civilised", their languages, culture and way of life destroyed, so that they could take their place - a subordinate one, naturally - in European society. Crucially, they were to be inculcated with European values ​​and work habits so that they would be fit for service to the colonial settlers.
You didn't have to scratch the surface very far to find the real motivations behind seemingly "altruistic" actions. In 1814, for example, Governor Macquarie funded a school for Aboriginal children. Within a few years, however, it became obvious to Indigenous families that the real purpose of the school was to distance the children from their families and communities. This was an essential step in the process of separating Indigenous people from their land, which was necessary to free the land for capitalist exploitation.
Meanwhile, colonial authorities were doing nothing to curb the brutal activities of the settlers. It was the British government, embarrassed by reports of frequent massacres and atrocities, which moved to appoint a Select Committee into the condition of the Aboriginal people. But the result of this, far from providing any relief for Indigenous people, was the establishment of legal mechanisms to control the Indigenous population, restrict their movements and rights and remove their children. All this went on in the name of "protection". p> Along with "protection" went segregation. Many Aborigines, thrown off their land, deprived of the means of subsistence and forced into dependence on government handouts, drifted to the towns and set up camps. The inevitable poverty, malnutrition and disease in the camps made them an embarrassment to the settlers and the colonial governments. So it was planned to remove Indigenous people to reserves in areas the Europeans didn't want, segregating them from the white population and restricting their movement. By 1911, the Northern Territory and every State except Tasmania had some form of "protectionist legislation", giving the government-appointed Protection Board or Chief Protector virtually total control over every aspect of Aborigines 'lives, and, crucially, legal guardianship of all the children. The sham of "protection" was indicated by the fact that the enforcement of protectionist legislation was carried out by "protectors" who were usually police officers.
The exception, Tasmania, simply removed all its Aboriginal inhabitants to Cape Barren Island and thereafter claimed it had no Aboriginal population, just a few "half-castes".
Throughout the nineteenth century, massacres, disease and malnutrition took a heavy toll, leading to a serious decline in the full descent Indigenous population. However, the mixed descent population was increasing, due no doubt to the widespread practice of the rape of Aboriginal women and girls by white settlers. These developments led to a somewhat different approach from the authorities. In social Darwinist "survival of the fittest" terms, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were "doomed races", destined to extinction because they couldn't compete with a more "advanced" society. The task of government and missionaries was therefore to "smooth the dying pillow". Indigenous people of mixed descent, however, were to be absorbed into European society and forced to join the workforce. This policy of "merging" would both save the government money and provide cheap labour for the developing capitalist economy, and it made the removal of children an even more vital part of the process, to keep full descent and mixed descent Aborigines apart.
Definitions of "Aboriginality" were arbitrarily changed to fit government policy and facilitate the break-up of families and communities. Across the country, there were some 67 definitions of "Aboriginality", enshrined in over 700 pieces of legislation. People were defined as "full blood" or "half caste" and there were further offensive divisions such as "quadroon" and "octoroon".
The first national discussion of the "Aboriginal problem" took place in 1937, at a Commonwealth State Native Welfare Conference. It was here that the notion of "merging" became the policy of "assimilation", which formed the basis for government action right up to the 1970s. The difference between "Merging" and "assimilation" was largely one of degree: an intensification and extension of control ...
