A little more than kin : regional affiliation and group identity among aboriginal migrants in Melbourne

Abstract

The last decade has been one of rapid social change for Aborigines in Victoria. Press and public attitudes towards the dark people have changed greatly . Government and welfare agency investigations into Aboriginal living conditions during the nineteen-fifties focussed public attention on Aborigines as never before. Assistance offered by new voluntary associations encourages Aborigines in Melbourne to acknowledge their ethnic identity. New activities attract people from all regional cliques in self-conscious demonstrations of Aboriginal skills and solidarity. Spokesmen and organizers, many of whom have worked for two or three decades to better the conditions. of the dark people, are now supported by -white sympathizers several leagues explicitly foster community activities, and the facilities offered by these associations serve as meeting-places for people from all re ions, thus enabling the Melbourne population to become more close-knit. forms of social control are emerging in these group activities. Kinship ties, the basis of regional affili¬ation, are both the greatest strength of the Melbourne community and the chief hindrance to effective impersonal leadership. Personal jealousies and regional ethnocentrism. still plague the self appointed organizers and spokesmen who wish to promote solidarity, but at crises all work together. The overlapping social networks of members of the various regional cliques provide a seemingly efficient basis for community action. As a community, Aborigine Melbourne can demand adherence to new standards, achieve some self-determination in a situation of social change. Show more