The long march: assimilation policy and practice in Darwin, the Northern Territory, 1939-1967

Abstract

This thesis is based on an analysis of the way in which successive governments formulate and administered policies of assimilation for the Northern Territory Aborigines between 1939 and 19'677. The capital city of the Northern Territory, Darwin, is the site for a case study in the administration of assimilation. The period 1939 to 1967 can be regarded as a distinct era (the assimilation era) in settler government policy and practice for Aborigines in the Northern Territory. During this time an Australian assimilation orthodoxy was constructed which described the way in which Aborigines would attain the same manner of living as other Australians and 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, as other Australians. What separated the period 1939 to 1967 from others, (for it could reasonably be argued that assimilation as an aim or a desired outcome existed both before 1939 and after 1967), was that it was government policy that successful assimilation would be rewarded with full civil rights or citizenship. Conversely, if Aborigines chose not to or could mot successfully assimilate, then they could not expect to enjoy the benefits of full civil rights.. The maintenance of this nexus identifies the period as a discrete era in settler policy. The thesis poses two questions which reflect the primary concerns of the successive governments during this period. How did the governments imagine Aboriginal assimilation could be facilitated and how were the unassimilated to be governed? The responses to both questions changed significantly in the period under review, influenced by contemporary perceptions of race and the construction of Aborigines within that discourse, as well as by changing theories about the ways i:n which social change could be facilitated, and finally by the changes in the nature and role of citizenship in Australia. Show more