THE ABORIGINES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22578, 17 November 1936, Page 5

THE ABORIGINES

WORK OF PROTECTION EFFORT TO SAVE DYING RACE [froji our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Nov. 5 The Minister for the Interior, Mr. Paterson, has approved recommendations by the Chief Protector of Aborigines in the Northern Territory that a progressive policy should be adopted and developed over a number of years in an attempt to save the dying race of Australian aborigines.

The policy provides that detribalised natives, such as those found near Darwin and other towns in the territory, are to be educated by the Government with a view to taking their place as efficient economic units in the territory. Following this general education they are to be trained in various avenues of employment. Commencing with Darwin, residential areas exclusively for aborigines are to be set aside in selected centres. Barracks ?nd dwellings are to be erected, and in association with these will be provided schools, recreation facilities, water supplies, sanitary systems and scope for horticulture. The children are to be educated to a standard comparable to that required by the State for white children. Particular attention will be devoted to equipping the child to take his placo in the white community with a prior realisation of his obligations to it, teaching the significance of time and the value of money, neither of which the aborigines realise at present, teaching him to recognise the significance of a contract, and inculcating the principles of hygiene and personal cleanliness.

The system will aim at eradicating the nomadic background and developing a community sense, centred on the provision of a home for the individual and family, and the exploitation of the soil and of domestic animals as sources of food. At that stage each youth will be drafted into employment as opportunity offers.

Aboriginal tribes who have not so far reached the stage ef dctribalisation, such as those near pastoral stations, will be provided with a large number of small reserves, where the remnants of the tribes may continue as far as possible to live according to their own customs, and to which native employees may repair during seasons of unemployment. Mr. Paterson said that the scheme was ambitious, and would take some time to put into effect. Much patient work would be required bv the officers of the aboriginal branch of the Northern Territory Administration, and a large increase in expenditure would be involved.