Outcasts in white Australia

Abstract

The 'outcasts' of this book are those of Aboriginal descent, mainly the part-Aborigines, living on the fringes of country towns and in some of the big cities of Australia who, because of their appearance, have not 'passed' into white Australian society. They are the rejects, legislated out of the social, economic, and political life of the nation. The book should shame white Australians. It extensively documents the grim story of human injustice to which, deliberately or unwittingly, they have subjected the part- Aborigines. It raises the question of whether they are so racially prejudiced they do not even see the plight of these people, whose proper place, it appears, is on the degraded fringe, under-employed, ill-housed, ill-educated, scorned or ignored. Yet part-Aborigines are the most rapidly increasing segment of the Australian population. Are these new generations to live out their lives without justice or dignity? Or will white Australians, supporting policies of the kind proposed by Professor Rowley, open the way for justice, equality and human dignity; and provide new opportunities to share the rapidly increasing wealth of this country? This volume is the second in C.D. Rowley{u2019}s 3-volume study of 'Aboriginal Policy and Practice'. The first is The Destruction of Aboriginal Society; the third, The Remote Aborigines.