M2 - Learner Manual
7. Protection and Assimilation
The 1787 Draft Instructions to the first governor of the colony were that the lives and livelihoods of the natives were to be protected. This was reinforced by recommendations of the British Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes (British Settlements) made to the (British) House of Commons in 1837.
However, as government Protectors were appointed and protection laws passed, their role quickly changed from protection to control of the lives of Aboriginal people.
The protection laws were largely repealed by the 1970s, but the legacy of these laws remains
Protection was a term used by Colonial governments as set out in their own Parliamentary charter of terms, however, what happened away from London and the control of the British parliament was often far from what was prescribed, with massacres being reported and little or nothing done to arrest the situation. Eventually as the early colony began to assert independence from the ‘Motherland’, the demands on access to land increased. ‘Settlers’ and freed convicts were granted greater access and ownership of Aboriginal lands. The law was in the favour of the settlers and freed convicts. As these laws developed more and more control was asserted over the lives of Aboriginal peoples.
It was under the misdirected veil of ‘improving” and “civilising” as well as ‘Christianising’ Aboriginal people., which saw Aboriginal people working as cheap labour for the settlers.
It can be argued that from the 1930s, the policies around assimilation and the institutionalisation of Aboriginal people, created an indentured ‘slave’ work force, that maximised the use of free Aboriginal labour.
Pause for thought
Two former government policies affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Assimilation and Integration. What is the difference between the two policies and how did they impact upon communities?