IOO
driven from waterholes , murdered by the police themselves .
The history of extermination of the people of Tasmania is well
, ,ʒ
documented .
The widespread incidents of extermination continued well
4
into this century .
The force of racist policies of extermination and the stereo-
types which supported them may be shown in their persistence.
8.42 Ci)
(b)' Sedimentation of typifications
As late as 1969, Mr. Wentworth, replying to a question concerning
statements made by a member of the Government, the member
for Capricornia, was forced to admit that, while the Government
did not support the statement, the member had in fact stated
that Aborigines were second-class citizens, and that therefore
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1
they should submit to sterilisation, and that moral compulsion
should be applied to make the people submit (Commonwealth Parliamentary
Debates, HouseofRepresentatives, 1969:pp. 923-2174).
Sterilisation may be seen as a latter day form of extermination.
The Government does not, of course, either support or
countenance such measures. Nevertheless, a climate of opinion
that allows such attitudes to be voiced points to a sedimentation
of typifications in contemporary white populations.
The attitude of councillors at Pt. Augusta has already been
, ∙u
described .
1Report of the Commissioner of Police, S June, 1885 (Jenkin, 1979:63).
2See J. Horner (in F.S. Stevens, ed., 1972:211-227).
^See, for example, Clive Turnbull (in F.S. Stevens, ed., 1972).
^Aboriginal people interviewed at Strelley remember graphically
being present at incidents of mass killings. The people there
believe that the giving of grog was part of a governmental policy
of extermination (See also Rowley, 1970, The Destruction of Aboriginal
Society).
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