The name is absent

300

the setting up of a Research Centre for Aboriginal Studies at
Adelaide University in 1980 came from the (Aboriginal) Director
of the Aboriginal Community Centre.
⅞

Pt. Augusta Aboriginal people have shown evidence of self-
determination in a number of ways; They have set up a Panel which
theorizes, formulates policy, communicates policy; they have provided
for adult education under their own control. They have established
a business venture that not only provides for a degree of economic
t

autonomy, but also acts to counter t∣ιe mythologies about Aboriginal
people and their work capabilities.
B

Though the degree of autonomy achieved does not match that found
at Strelley, nevertheless it supports the validity of a model of
Aboriginal society parallel to white society.

The group is cohesive, visible to each other and able to be
quickly mobilised to meet a need.

In Adelaide, Aboriginal initiatives to gain autonomy are also
r

evident, particularly in the activities relating to the Aboriginal
Community Centre (health, welfare, legal aid) and to initiatives
in education, especially in the pre-school area.

However, while autonomy is exercised in these endeavours, the
problem of lack of cohesiveness prevents the attainment of autonomy
as a group. The model of integration into white society accurately
reflects the Adelaide situation for Aboriginal people.

A further indication of the degree of autonomy exercised by the
*

people will be found in how the Aboriginal people are named, whether
they name themselves, and locate themselves in a world of meaning, or
whether they are acted upon by white society.

18.4 Naming

An indication of the lack of autonomy on the part of Aboriginal
people is found in the fact that they have always been named by
white society, with the result that, today, Aborigines have a
problem in naming themselves.

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