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Source 6.38. “The Missions” extract from Australia and the near north (Connole,
1962, p. 215).
Within this discourse, value of representations of Indigenous Australians is attributed to
economic contributions (see, for example, Source 6.39).
Source 6.39. “How can Aborigines best contribute…?” extract from Landmarks: A
history of Australia to the present day (Blackmore et al., 1969, p. 169)
Interestingly, for all of its understandings of the contemporary issues being experienced by
Indigenous Australians, the textbook still follows a narrow definition of progress by aligning
the value of Indigenous people with their (potential) economic contribution, beginning a
paragraph with the question “How can the Aborigines best contribute to the economic
development of Australia?” (Blackmore et al., 1969, p. 169). The question is then responded
to by stating that Indigenous Australians should be allowed to receive economic
compensation due to being “dispossessed” (Blackmore et al., 1969, p. 169) as a result of the
approval by the government of mining leases. Here, an ideology of privileging economic
wealth is strongly articulated. A second reason is then asserted, being “…particularly in the
areas of the remote north where the climate of the region is unattractive to white men”
(Blackmore et al., 1969, p. 169). Here the previous comment of more or less financial
compensation for dispossession from traditional land is contradicted by the term
“particularly” to describe where this should happen—in areas where the weather is
consistently hot and humid; therefore opening the possibility that compensation should be
based on location, rather than principle, a problematic concept. Overall, Indigenous
Australians are represented as having nothing valuable to offer any part of society except
economically when they lease their traditional lands. Social inequities experienced by
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