The name is absent

119
№

since in the circumstances of that time the mainstream economy
could profit from Aboriginal labour.
Ї

Some of the consequences of the inconsistency and fluidity
of identification are illustrated by Barwick.

Barwick (quoted by Rowley, 1971:44), through a study of

records, established cases where the same person was at different

caste', each category bringing with it subjection to different
legislation which imposed different levels of restrictions on
personal liberty and a different identity.

Aboriginal people had no power to identify themselves.

An individual's self-identification could be contradicted

by a white official.

I

L

I

I

і

1

Despite the fact that an individual identified himself as
Aboriginal in accordance with the terms of the Act, such self-
Identification by Aborigines could be overruled by the personal
judgement of an official, based on stereotypes of what did or
did not pertain to the state of 'Aboriginality¹ in the personal
view of the official.

Where there was some doubt of classification, the magistrate

ade up his mind by sighting the person in question (Rowley_f 1971:4).

The possibility of 'interpreting' the definition according to
a personal judgement based on appearance, points clearly to the
rejection of Aborigines on the basis of colour and physical
attributes, and to the arbitrary nature of such identification.

In practice, the contradiction of a person’s self-identification
by officialdom had the effect of defining Aboriginal identity as
negative and delineating the characteristics of Aboriginality as
negative.

Tatz quotes the case of a Perth magistrate hearing the case
of a person making a self-identification as Aboriginal, before the

<<   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   >>

More intriguing information