Australia has recently fallen into disrepute over her handling of the "Aboriginal Problem." The problem, which involves the social and economic advancement of people having a vastly different, and by our standards, impoverished culture, with the attempts being made to solve it, is worthy of attention.

When the first party of European settlers sailed into Botany Bay in 1788 there were 300,000 Aborigines. As a people, they were nomadic hunters with very few material possessions. They had a stone age culture; one which was greatly concerned with a magic ritual.

There were clashes over possession of the land. The natives accepted the crops and animals of the settlers as his for the taking, as he had always accepted produce of the land.

Pacification by force became the recognised policy for discouraging pilfering of this kind, often by Indiscriminate shooting.

The Aborigines lacked the Maoris' genius in battle, and despite the murder of the odd station hand the settlers took over native foraging grounds without treaty or recompense.

European diseases such as measles, smallpox, gonorrhoea and tuberculosis caused the deaths of thousands, as their only medication was incantation.

Under such severe competition, the numbers dwindled to the present day total of some 80,000.

Although greatly reduced in strength, the race Is not dying out, as once thought. The Aboriginal cannot be ignored on the grounds that he will just go away. What should be done about him?

It would be possible to leave him alone, as a unique anthropological curiosity.

"Unique"

Colonel L. Rose, chairman of the Social Welfare Select Committee of the Northern Territory Legislative Council, spoke thus in introducing reformative legislation.

"Aborigines are a unique people, and this legislation aims to destroy all this and make them one with us. I would love to see them left alone for decades—for ever—but I am forced to agree with this bill."

Ideas such as this are often found in the general European population. Many still imagine that all that remains to be done for the aboriginal is to "smooth his dying pillow" as the race nears extinction.

Others consider that a biological inferiority exists which will limit the advancement of the Aborigines. Both ideas are wrong.

The alternative, adopted by the Commonwealth Government as the only acceptable solution, is to bring their standard of living up to ours and give them equality before law.

There is an enormous gap to be bridged.

The Aboriginal way of life involved little property, no money and no permanent house. They were free and nomadic.

Today there is still a reluctance among some to accept our way of life as better than theirs. Recently an Aboriginal told an interviewer that although he could get good regular employment, he still liked to feel free to go into the bush when he wished.

This tendency has been regarded as indicating inability to take the responsibility of a steady job.

In addition, there is some distrust of the European—welldeserved, on his past record. This serves to bind Aborigines together, to strengthen racial loyalties and make them resist imposed changes.

Although some may be too distrustful or too little advanced to accept the idea of equality, there are others, particularly in the cities, who resent the differences that exist.

Equal pay is the most important of the equalities to these people. It means more material benefits, more incentive for education, and the means to obtain it.

Differences

The states which make up the Commonwealth have implemented the Federal government's policy at different rates, so that some have a more "enlightened" attitude than others.

Early legislators established statutes which shielded Aborigines from most social responsibilities. These statutes, regarded as necessary to prevent aboriginal irresponsibility with alcohol and money on their first contact, must be removed as a first step in Aboriginal emancipation.

Another institution which is most important is the settlement system. The settlements run by church missions or the government are intended to be clearing houses for nomads, who after staving some while and being trained in some trade and taught social skills, can leave to take a responsible place in the community.

Too often these have turned into centres for repression of responsibility. They are also an ideal method for keeping Aborigines under the thumb of restrictive legislation.

Queensland is the least progressive state. The native is treated as an irresponsible child, neglecting all his potential for economic and social advancement.

In addition, the state becomes the guardian of his children; mail into and out of settlements may be censored; he pays two types of tax—normal income tax as well as five to 10 per cent of his gross income, which is paid into a common welfare fund.

Entry to a native settlement is restricted. Even a member of the Federal Parliament must have official sanction for a visit. The maximum penalty for illegal entry is a fine of £50 or six months.

In court an aboriginal may only be represented by his "protector," usually the settlement superintendent or the local policeman, the very people he would be likely to wish to take action against.

In New South Wales restrictive legislation has been removed. Aborigines are paid award wages, their welfare board has native representatives on it, they vote in State and Federal elections, and where people are poor and have no wish to go to the cities they are encouraged to start their own co-operatives.

The Northern Territory has just had its legislation amended to grant Aborigines there similar freedoms.

Further positive policies adopted by the Federal Government in 1963 include extension of settlement schemes with good health schemes and welfare services to encourage nomadic natives to take advantage of them, vocational training and education to be made generally available to the highest level possible, improvement in housing schemes and welfare work to assist Aborigines settling into town, and further research into special welfare problems.

These are all Federal policies, and until assimilation becomes a matter under Federal control, the states may act on them or not as their consciences allow.

Fortunate

Fortunately the states appear willing to shed their responsibilities. Aboriginal welfare is expensive and those States with the lowest populations have the highest proportion of Aborigines, so that the burden is unevenly distributed.

The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines is petitioning for the appropriate amendments to the constitution making welfare the business of the Commonwealth Government, and seems to be getting widespread support.

This is the theory underlying assimilation. How is assimilation proceeding in practice?

In the first place, the chance of complete intermingling of the two populations is much less than it is in New Zealand.

The Aborigines have a long way to go before they are, as a whole, on an economic par with the Europeans. There are only four Aborigines at University, for example.

Tremendous Task

The task of bringing the whole population to a state of educational, social, legal and economic equality is tremendous, especially if it is borne in mind that some groups exist that have seldom seen a European, and these must be brought from the Stone Age into the Atomic Age.

If blame must be apportioned for the neglect of the Aborigines, most of it belongs to previous generations, who delayed the start of such a large work for so long, and less to those who are working on it today.

In earlier days, casual charity in the form of outback station handouts and determined charity born of zeal for religious conversion, did much to remove Aboriginal self respect.

One culture has been destroyed, and only very inadequately replaced by another.

The missions are trying, in their own way to substitute Christianity for the age old traditions of magic and ritual which have their origins in times far earlier than the birth of Christ. Judging from interviews I have heard with converts, they are succeeding in turning out a rather confused parrot, rather than a reborn man.

Even if Aborigines greatly desire to be exactly like us (as if there were no better ambition) the process of replacing their values with ours will be a lengthy one.

Although there has been much general apathy or well meaning ignorance, although procrastination has magnified the task, and although the European population itself requires much teaching before it understands the situation properly, both races are learning to live together.