107
to ensure that they receive’justice in every way
and to prevent the emergence of conditions that could
be used as an excuse for creating differences in
the Australian community. The government regards
the Aboriginals as Australians in the same sense
as all other Australian citizens (Commonwealth
Parliamentary Debates, 1968, Vol. H of R. 58:886).
The fact that Wentworth needed to make the statement - ’The
V
government regards the Aboriginals as Australians in the same
sense as all other Australian citizens”-shows two things:
(i) The Aborigines had previously NOT been regarded in
this way;
(ii) The Aborigines were now NOT to be different, Tliey
were to be assimilated.
Nevertheless, even the avowed process of assimilation demanded
an initial nihilation of the Aboriginal world of meaning, with
i « * ■ * ■»» ∙
a subsequent redefinition of Aboriginal people, in order to make
them eligible for assimilation into white society. Such a redefinition
also made them eligible for therapy.
No longer could the world of Aborigines be nihilated. On
the contrary, it had to be recognised and absorbed, and new conceptual
machinery established.
Those Aborigines who demanded rights were no longer to be
’Aborigines’, but were given a new negative redefinition. They
were ’apostles of class hatred’ (i.e., communists) .
*
The assertion of Aboriginality in the setting up of a Black
Embassy in Canberra in 1972 was seen as threatening the dominant
group.
I '
-I
I
к
I
4
h
Г
In 1972, in a Senate debate, Dr. Mackay nihilated the activities
of those Aborigines working to present their grievances to Parliament.
I
+ J
I
I
к
r
