Mission modern : an ethno-historical explanation of the origins and reception of the Cape York welfare reform trial in Hope Vale / Elizabeth Watt.

Abstract

This thesis explores class-based differences that have emerged within Indigenous Australian society since colonisation, through the prism of an ethnohistory of the Guugu Yimidhirr-speaking town of Hope Vale in the south-east of Cape York. Tracing the trajectory of the racialised groups that developed during the town's past as a Lutheran mission, it reveals some of the transformations in political subjectivity, economic values and codes of public conduct that have precipitated the emergence of the contemporary Indigenous 'middle-class'. This porous group of relatively cosmopolitan Aboriginal people differs in fundamental ways from its lower-class counterpart, which tend to subscribe more strongly to the distinct Indigenous values that anthropologists have long argued mitigate against 'success' as defined by the dominant society. While this ethno-history covers sensitive, wide-ranging issues of national and international importance, it grew out of a specific question about the reception of the Cape York Welfare Reform Trial (CYWRT). The CYWRT is an ongoing social policy experiment that has, since 2008, explicitly sought to "rebuild social norms" and "restore Indigenous authority" (CYP, 2007: 8). Early reviews of the Trial suggest that, of the four communities involved, the residents of Hope Vale are the most vocally opposed to the scheme. This response is interesting as the CYWRT's primary architect - prominent public intellectual Noel Pearson - has derived both reform inspiration and moral authority from his upbringing in the town. Also surprising is the fact the resistance was led by Hope Vale's wageearning 'spectators' rather than the welfare-dependent 'subjects' of the reforms themselves. Drawing on thirteen months of fieldwork, this thesis concludes that these categories reflect the vestiges of the "colour-class" system that developed in Hope Vale during the mission era (Terwiel-Powell, 1976, p.11). The employed spectators' of the CYWRT are mostly descendants of the lighter-skinned group, who were favoured by the Lutherans, while the welfare department's 'subjects' are mostly descendants of the neglected darker-skinned families. While the values enshrined in the CYWRT are heavily influenced by Pearson's upbringing as part of the mission upper class, the same heritage explains the resistance to these reforms among fellow descendants of this engaged group. The relatively respectable, outward-looking, educated spectators of the reforms are more likely to be aware of, and identify with, rights-based and utilitarian arguments against the CYWRT, to have an interest in preserving the power of the local council, and to take offence at Pearson's public criticisms of contemporary social standards in their hometown. Meanwhile, because the embedded Guugu Yimidhirr families' frame of socio-political reference is largely restricted to the town's 'Blackfella domain' - where 'disreputable' Indigenous identity constructions prevail - they are less likely to experience shame in relation to the CYWRT, and tend to base their views on personal, tangible experiences of the scheme rather than broader politico-philosophical principles or interests. This analysis is controversial because it runs counter to the recent emphasis on Indigenous unity and cultural continuity. Yet, it is also critical for understanding the reception of the new policy paradigm that the CYWRT represents, and what Aboriginal society might look like if such schemes were successful. Show more