The New Deal for Aborigines (or Aboriginal New Deal) was a landmark Australian federal government policy statement on Indigenous Australians. The policy was announced in September 1938 by interior minister John McEwen and detailed in a white paper released in February 1939. It provided for Indigenous people to be granted full civil rights in conjunction with a process of cultural assimilation.
The New Deal policy marked a shift away from previous policies of "eliminationist" or "absorptionist", which envisioned Indigenous Australians as a "dying race".
In the 1930s, government policy towards Indigenous Australians was decentralised, with state governments bearing the primary responsibility for Indigenous affairs. The Australian constitution's " race power" placed limits on the federal government's ability to enact legislation specific to Indigenous Australians. This meant that Indigenous policy at the federal level was almost solely concentrated towards the Northern Territory, the only federal territory with a significant Indigenous population. The Northern Territory was administered through the Department of the Interior. [1]
In 1937, federal and state authorities held a conference to discuss Indigenous policy. The conference resolved that "the destiny of the natives of Aboriginal origin, but not of the full blood, lies in their ultimate absorption by the people of the Commonwealth". [1] The resolution was
On 26 January 1938, the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) led by William Ferguson and Jack Patten organised the Day of Mourning, a protest coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet and British colonisation of Australia. Five days later, a deputation of Indigenous activists led by Patten met with Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and Interior Minister John McEwen to present a ten-point statement of "national aims", which included the granting of "full citizen status and civil equality with the whites in Australia", full federal control over Indigenous policy, the creation of an advisory board with majority Indigenous representation, and opposition to segregation. [2]
Following his and Lyons' meeting with Patten's delegation, McEwen prepared a cabinet submission authorising him to development an official government policy on Aboriginal affairs. The submission was approved by federal cabinet on 7 February 1938. McEwen subsequently met with his departmental secretary Joseph Carrodus and anthropologist A. P. Elkin to begin drafting a policy. The draft policy was completed in April 1938, largely the work of Elkin. [3]
McEwen undertook an extended tour of the Northern Territory later in 1938, travelling over 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from Mount Isa through to Alice Springs in central Australia and then north to Darwin. [4] According to his biographer, the "long journey through northern Australia gave him a new perspective on the problems of the Aborigines and reinforced his awakening concern for their welfare". [5]
McEwen announced the main aspects of the New Deal in December 1938. [6] He apparently named the policy after the " Indian New Deal" legislated in the United States earlier in the 1930s. [7] The full white paper was released on 8 January 1939 and officially titled The Northern Territory of Australia: Commonwealth Government Policy in Respect to Aboriginals". [8]
The New Deal "aimed to convert Aboriginal people from their traditional, nomadic inclinations to a settled life". [9]
It envisioned a whole-of-government approach whereby state governments would cooperate with the federal government. [10]
The New Deal made provision for all Indigenous workers to receive award wages (standardised pay rates set under industrial law), to which only half-castes had previously been entitled. However, McEwen's policy statement envisioned a hierarchical wage structure would remain in place where "payment would be made in accordance with their capacity to give service, but not under conditions which would permit the use of coloured workers to break down the established conditions of labour in Australia". [11]
The initial steps taken by McEwen to effectuate the New Deal included the establishment of a Native Affairs branch within the Department of the Interior, based in Darwin.
The implementation of the New Deal stalled with Lyons' death in April 1939, which saw Robert Menzies become prime minister and McEwen's Country Party leave the governing coalition. McEwen's successor as interior minister was Harry Foll, who . The new cabinet referred the matter to a subcommittee on "Citizenship Rights for Australian Aborigines". [12] World War II and the failure of the 1944 referendum also contributed to delays in its implementation. [10]
Elkin continued to promote the New Deal policies in his 1944 book Citizenship for the Aborigines: A National Aboriginal Policy, stating that plans for their implementation were "well advanced" in the Northern Territory, despite the interruption of war, and commenting that "a good foundation has been laid for building up a national Aboriginal policy for all Australia". [8]
Hasluck regarded the New Deal statement as representing a "change in outlook", but suggested it was not until the 1950s that it developed into a "clear and practical movement [...] toward a new objective in the administration of Aboriginal affairs". [13]
The New Deal was "enthusiastically received" by the Australian Aborigines' League (AAL) and Aborigines Progressive Association (APA). William Ferguson [14]
Later in 1939, communist leader Tom Wright published New Deal for the Aborigines, a critique of the government's policy. [15]
Anthropologist Donald Thomson, who supported the creation of Aboriginal reserves, felt that the government had misrepresented his views. [16]x
The New Deal has been described as a "classic statement of assimilationist thinking". [17]
Later writers have noted that, outside of administrative changes,
In the Bringing Them Home report around the Stolen Generations, the New Deal is identified as the turning point where the government moved from a policy of "protection and segregation" – where Indigenous people were confined to reserves and had limited legal and civil rights – to an assimilationist policy [18]
Silverstein (2018) has argued that the New Deal policies envisaged a form of indirect rule, inspired by British colonial governance systems in Africa and the Pacific. [19]
- ^ a b Holland 2005, p. 85.
- ^ Golding 1996, pp. 343–344.
- ^ Silverstein 2018, p. 136.
- ^ Golding 1996, pp. 87–88.
- ^ Golding 1996, p. 98.
- ^ Silverstein 2018, p. 137.
- ^ Silvertsein 2018, p. 156.
- ^ a b Golding 1996, p. 100.
- ^ Arabena, Kerry (2005). "Not fit for modern Australian society: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs" (PDF). Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. p. 15. ISBN 0855754788.
- ^ a b Arabena 2005, p. 16.
- ^ Martinez 2005, p. 117.
- ^ Murphy 2013, p. 216.
- ^ Rowse 2005, p. 7.
- ^ Murphy 2013, p. 215.
- ^ Holland 2005, p. 92.
- ^ Holland 2005, p. 93-94.
- ^ Holland 2005, p. 87.
- ^ "Chapter 9 Northern Territory | Bringing Them Home".
- ^ Silverstein 2018, p. 139.
- Golding, Peter S. (1996). Black Jack McEwen: Political Gladiator. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522847188.
- Holland, Alison (2005). "Saving the Race: Critics of Absorption Look for an Alternative". In Rowse, Tim (ed.). Contesting Assimilation. API Network. pp. 85–100. ISBN 1920845151.
- Silverstein, Ben (2018). Governing Natives: Indirect Rule and Settler Colonialism in Australia's North. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526100047.
- Murphy, John (2013). "Conditional Inclusion: Aborigines and Welfare Rights in Australia, 1900–47". Australian Historical Studies. 44 (2): 206–226. doi: 10.1080/1031461X.2013.791707.
The New Deal for Aborigines (or Aboriginal New Deal) was a landmark Australian federal government policy statement on Indigenous Australians. The policy was announced in September 1938 by interior minister John McEwen and detailed in a white paper released in February 1939. It provided for Indigenous people to be granted full civil rights in conjunction with a process of cultural assimilation.
The New Deal policy marked a shift away from previous policies of "eliminationist" or "absorptionist", which envisioned Indigenous Australians as a "dying race".
In the 1930s, government policy towards Indigenous Australians was decentralised, with state governments bearing the primary responsibility for Indigenous affairs. The Australian constitution's " race power" placed limits on the federal government's ability to enact legislation specific to Indigenous Australians. This meant that Indigenous policy at the federal level was almost solely concentrated towards the Northern Territory, the only federal territory with a significant Indigenous population. The Northern Territory was administered through the Department of the Interior. [1]
In 1937, federal and state authorities held a conference to discuss Indigenous policy. The conference resolved that "the destiny of the natives of Aboriginal origin, but not of the full blood, lies in their ultimate absorption by the people of the Commonwealth". [1] The resolution was
On 26 January 1938, the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) led by William Ferguson and Jack Patten organised the Day of Mourning, a protest coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet and British colonisation of Australia. Five days later, a deputation of Indigenous activists led by Patten met with Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and Interior Minister John McEwen to present a ten-point statement of "national aims", which included the granting of "full citizen status and civil equality with the whites in Australia", full federal control over Indigenous policy, the creation of an advisory board with majority Indigenous representation, and opposition to segregation. [2]
Following his and Lyons' meeting with Patten's delegation, McEwen prepared a cabinet submission authorising him to development an official government policy on Aboriginal affairs. The submission was approved by federal cabinet on 7 February 1938. McEwen subsequently met with his departmental secretary Joseph Carrodus and anthropologist A. P. Elkin to begin drafting a policy. The draft policy was completed in April 1938, largely the work of Elkin. [3]
McEwen undertook an extended tour of the Northern Territory later in 1938, travelling over 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from Mount Isa through to Alice Springs in central Australia and then north to Darwin. [4] According to his biographer, the "long journey through northern Australia gave him a new perspective on the problems of the Aborigines and reinforced his awakening concern for their welfare". [5]
McEwen announced the main aspects of the New Deal in December 1938. [6] He apparently named the policy after the " Indian New Deal" legislated in the United States earlier in the 1930s. [7] The full white paper was released on 8 January 1939 and officially titled The Northern Territory of Australia: Commonwealth Government Policy in Respect to Aboriginals". [8]
The New Deal "aimed to convert Aboriginal people from their traditional, nomadic inclinations to a settled life". [9]
It envisioned a whole-of-government approach whereby state governments would cooperate with the federal government. [10]
The New Deal made provision for all Indigenous workers to receive award wages (standardised pay rates set under industrial law), to which only half-castes had previously been entitled. However, McEwen's policy statement envisioned a hierarchical wage structure would remain in place where "payment would be made in accordance with their capacity to give service, but not under conditions which would permit the use of coloured workers to break down the established conditions of labour in Australia". [11]
The initial steps taken by McEwen to effectuate the New Deal included the establishment of a Native Affairs branch within the Department of the Interior, based in Darwin.
The implementation of the New Deal stalled with Lyons' death in April 1939, which saw Robert Menzies become prime minister and McEwen's Country Party leave the governing coalition. McEwen's successor as interior minister was Harry Foll, who . The new cabinet referred the matter to a subcommittee on "Citizenship Rights for Australian Aborigines". [12] World War II and the failure of the 1944 referendum also contributed to delays in its implementation. [10]
Elkin continued to promote the New Deal policies in his 1944 book Citizenship for the Aborigines: A National Aboriginal Policy, stating that plans for their implementation were "well advanced" in the Northern Territory, despite the interruption of war, and commenting that "a good foundation has been laid for building up a national Aboriginal policy for all Australia". [8]
Hasluck regarded the New Deal statement as representing a "change in outlook", but suggested it was not until the 1950s that it developed into a "clear and practical movement [...] toward a new objective in the administration of Aboriginal affairs". [13]
The New Deal was "enthusiastically received" by the Australian Aborigines' League (AAL) and Aborigines Progressive Association (APA). William Ferguson [14]
Later in 1939, communist leader Tom Wright published New Deal for the Aborigines, a critique of the government's policy. [15]
Anthropologist Donald Thomson, who supported the creation of Aboriginal reserves, felt that the government had misrepresented his views. [16]x
The New Deal has been described as a "classic statement of assimilationist thinking". [17]
Later writers have noted that, outside of administrative changes,
In the Bringing Them Home report around the Stolen Generations, the New Deal is identified as the turning point where the government moved from a policy of "protection and segregation" – where Indigenous people were confined to reserves and had limited legal and civil rights – to an assimilationist policy [18]
Silverstein (2018) has argued that the New Deal policies envisaged a form of indirect rule, inspired by British colonial governance systems in Africa and the Pacific. [19]
- ^ a b Holland 2005, p. 85.
- ^ Golding 1996, pp. 343–344.
- ^ Silverstein 2018, p. 136.
- ^ Golding 1996, pp. 87–88.
- ^ Golding 1996, p. 98.
- ^ Silverstein 2018, p. 137.
- ^ Silvertsein 2018, p. 156.
- ^ a b Golding 1996, p. 100.
- ^ Arabena, Kerry (2005). "Not fit for modern Australian society: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs" (PDF). Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. p. 15. ISBN 0855754788.
- ^ a b Arabena 2005, p. 16.
- ^ Martinez 2005, p. 117.
- ^ Murphy 2013, p. 216.
- ^ Rowse 2005, p. 7.
- ^ Murphy 2013, p. 215.
- ^ Holland 2005, p. 92.
- ^ Holland 2005, p. 93-94.
- ^ Holland 2005, p. 87.
- ^ "Chapter 9 Northern Territory | Bringing Them Home".
- ^ Silverstein 2018, p. 139.
- Golding, Peter S. (1996). Black Jack McEwen: Political Gladiator. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522847188.
- Holland, Alison (2005). "Saving the Race: Critics of Absorption Look for an Alternative". In Rowse, Tim (ed.). Contesting Assimilation. API Network. pp. 85–100. ISBN 1920845151.
- Silverstein, Ben (2018). Governing Natives: Indirect Rule and Settler Colonialism in Australia's North. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526100047.
- Murphy, John (2013). "Conditional Inclusion: Aborigines and Welfare Rights in Australia, 1900–47". Australian Historical Studies. 44 (2): 206–226. doi: 10.1080/1031461X.2013.791707.