Alternative welfare: Aboriginal women work at the grassroots

Abstract

The motivating force of traditional Aboriginal women's culture which inspires them to extraordinary efforts in the care of their children, is the focus of this description of a social movement entitled the Aborigines Progress Movement (APM). Although this movement took place during the period 1970-73, I believe it has currency owing to the social problems being experienced by Aboriginal communities in spite of massive government funding in the areas of education, employment and health. Rowse has recently raised 'some of the essential dilemmas of selfdetermination policy' which lead to the question 'can we sketch a government policy which would bring about those conditions [culturally appropriate self-sufficiency) without exposing the government to the charge that it was ceasing to "look after" people?' (Rowse 1992, 54). The women who constituted the APM, their motivation for doing so, the effect they had on their families, and their role as a foundation to the Oombulgurri Rehabilitation Project, are, I believe, relevant to Rowse's question. Considering their material conditions of poverty, lack of formal job skills, family violence, and social dislocation, an analysis of their work may have implications for government-funded welfare and employment policies. The historical factors which spawned the APM were the closure in 1968 of the Anglican Forrest River mission and transportation of the mission Aborigines to the small and unprepared Kimberley township of Wyndham. Most of the families were dumped onto the overcrowded and unhygienic native reserve. The tragic combination of dislocation, poor living conditions and bewilderingly alien environment had disastrous consequences for the Aboriginal families involved. Out of this apparently hopeless situation, the women, nevertheless, formed an organisational tool for the creation of work and social security for their families. This paper describes the background to these Aboriginal women's struggles for social, political and economic survival, and their formation of a structure through which to achieve their objectives. My simple message is that, given culturally-appropriate support, Aboriginal women can translate traditional caring and nurturing roles into powerful contemporary structures for self-sufficiency and social support for their families. Show more