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inclusion of Indigenous Australians appears to be legitimized only by mediation of
representations through Australia’s constitution and state-government policies, with a
significant focus on broad policies of exclusion and paternalism. In addition, a topic what has
become known in more recent times as The Stolen Generation is included here, albeit without
naming it as such. For example, the following passage reads:
The Constitution of the Commonwealth referred to the aborigines only to instruct
that they were not to be counted in census figures and to state that the Federal
government had no power to make laws concerning them. The states framed their
own laws and ordinances to govern aboriginal people. Many of these imposed
restrictions and handicaps giving aborigines little opportunity to improve their
conditions. They were excluded from many benefits taken for granted by white men.
In some states their movements were severely controlled. They could not settle in
certain areas, they could be removed from one district to another, children could be
forcibly taken from their parents and brought up in schools hundreds of miles from
their homes. Aborigines were paid lower wages than white men doing the same
work, little was done for the education of their children, young people could not
marry without the permission of a government official, housing conditions were
often very bad. (Palmer & MacLeod, 1969, p. 183)
6.8.2 Narratives of the Wave Hill Station Strike.
Continuing with its representations of contemporary topics related to Indigenous Australians,
Landmarks: A history of Australia to the present day (Blackmore et al., 1969) features a
narrative (see Source 6.36) on what is now known as the Wave Hill Station Strike providing
an example of current issues experienced by Indigenous people from the Northern Territory.
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