In 1928, after a white man was killed, a punitive party mounted a series of attacks on Aborigines northwest of Alice Springs. The party's leader admitted that 31 Aborigines were killed. One missionary in the area put the toll at 70; another at as many as 100.
Since 1911, the administration of the Northern Territory had been the direct responsibility of the Commonwealth. In placing this event and others within the context of policies pursued by the national government, Governing Savages reveals how policies of brutality and calculated neglect bequeathed a bitter legacy to subsequent generations.
Introduction
1 Protecting Aborigines
2 The colour of money
3 Nature, not nurture
4 Pastoralists
5 Missionaries
6 The Chief Protector
7 The judge
8 The bureaucrat
9 The Minister of the Crown
10 The anthropologist
11 The humanitarian lobby
12 Aboriginal voices
Endnotes
Select Bibliography
Index
Biography
Andrew Markus, a leading scholar of race relations, teaches at Monash University. His most recent publication is Blood from a Stone, a collection of the letters of the Aboriginal activist William Cooper.
