^UEENcuiVD ^ UNIVERSITY. Hiiii 'l§il§gend^ IMHIi Registered at the O.P.O., BrL-ibanfl. for SEMPER FLOREAT, TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1959. transmission by post as a periodical. VOL, 29, No. 6 Aborigines suffer 'inhumanity^ indignity and liumiliation' IVe need WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? BY THE EDITORS positive TOURING the last few weeks, Semper has heard many disquieting repercussions to policy • • • Tom Toogood's article on aboriginals in the BY IAN WALTON Commem. issue. THIS Issue quotes a ihir JOarh ShuMm Cherbourg settlement offl­ Officials of Palm Island and Cherbourg abori­ cial statin; that the policy ginal settlements have attacked the article on one iiiiirriiiniiiriniiimiifniiiimu iiiiiiDiiiiiuiiitii :uiiiuuiimiiimHi»imiijnnijMuii»iiJjmwjjijiinfiiiiiiijHiiJ'Uuiuuii»iinHnjiiiijjiiiijfiJun<iiji»inijMMiijiiWJjuiJJuiirmtM,unuid of the settlement is to hand, but on the other ... .MAINTAIN THE RACIAL IDENTITY of natives. Many grave claims and accusations have come into the editors' hands, which, if one is to believe At Armidale at a confer­ What happened to ence on aboriginal prob­ them, cast serious reflections on the Government's lems, the Queensland present and future treatment of aborigines. Native Affairs Director Some of the material we have received has been ignored; said, "We have in our State but we cannot ignore a situation which finds several responsible a policy aimed at the members of the community confronting us with similar allega­ Gordon Santo..? QUICK DISPOSAL INTO tions about the privations of our aboriginals: indrgnify, inhuman­ BY INQUIRER THE COMMUNITY of all ity, humiliation. HE inscription above the main entrance to our capable of accepting the A Semper representative tried to check the truth of these responsibility, and of help­ allegations with the Government Department. T University reads; "TRUTH is mighty above all ing along the road in a He was told by a Departmental spokesman: "You'd things," 1 would like to know the truth about part- kindly manner thosc who better not print that unless you want a iot of trouble." aboriginal Gordon Santo. are not yet capable." The People with nothing to hide don't talk that way. "Courier-Mail" quoted him He passed his Senior at Mt. thought-of treasurer of lhe in Its issue 2S/5/S9. Carmel College some years "Kangaroo Sports Club" ago in Cliarters Towers and started by Mrs. Wilding and There is clear contradic­ Signed statements wished to enter Queensland the present local ABSCHOL tion between these two director, Mr. T. R, Toogood; statements. ELOW, we print extracts from comments, letters, Teacherj Training College thii and articles sent to us. Signed statements from year, but was (somewhere and that it was his wish to Thc Armidale conference B along the line of applications enter the Teachers College this evidently favoured just all people quoted are in the editors' hands. year, after having carefully such a policy as Mr. and interviews) discouraged fear of "reprisals." We are from doing so. saved the necessary where­ O'Leary outlined. Was Mr. A well-known Brisbane GORDON SANTO, who Is withal. G'Leary moved by the gen­ businessman, recently re­ now holding their signed now studying at Melbourne He has now left to follow eral feeling of the meeting turned from Palm Island, told statements. Here are some of University. a course in Physical Educa­ tion at a Southern University Repeat paftern ? to give an Incorrect state­ Semper he had seen about 100 them: MliiiinninmiiitiNniiiiuuttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHimiiiitiiJiiNiiiinjii ment of Departmental pol­ aboriginal children, between A young aboriginal, describ­ 'Jon a scholarship granted by What we would like to know icy? Was Mr. O'Leary ex­ six and 12 years, being ing Settlement X, said an the Aboriginal Scholarship is— pressing the true situation? marched under police guard aborigine and lier boy friend Scheme of the National Union Was he rejected because of Or Is this another case of to a convent li miles from were caught kissing in the of Australian University Stu­ InsufDcient educational quall- a Department without a dance hal! by a couple of dents, flcations? (b u t, strangely the settlement. enougli, admitted to Mel­ policy? This was to "protect their policemen, and were brought to trial before tlie camp No employmenf bourne University a Uttle chastity," he was told. while afterwardsj. A University social worker, superintendent. We do tnow that when Men were barred from all Gordon came to Brisbane he If not, what was the reason? who visited a North Queens­ Does this Incident repeat land aboriginal settlement last types of entertainment for THE Aborigines Act offoun d no avenues of employ­ TO STUDY HERE three months for getting Queensland, under which our ment open to him, despite his the pattern of three years ago year, asked permission to visit excellent record at Mt, Car­ when a certain well-known a camp orphanage . after drank on a trip. aboriginals are governed, has Ten men were gaoled in the provisions for: mel and his quiet, pleasing young aboriginal woman, being escorted around the personality; that noted wel­ with the necessary qualifica­ campr-outside the wire sur­ camp for 14 days recently for • PREVENTION of free­ gambling. dom of movement of indivi­ fare worker for aborigines, tions, was refused entry to the rounding it. Mrs. P. J. Wilding, finally Teachers College on the He was refused permission. A white woman, he said, dual aboriginals. found him a job as a Main grounds that parents of white A local public servant told told a young aboriginal boy to • COMPULSORY move­ Roads worker; that he be­children might object to an him he was "wasting his run down to a shop, but he ment of aboriginals. came the flrst and highly- aboriginal teacher? refused, as it was raining. time." • IMPRISONMENT at thc .Mini iiiuiiuiiii I ininiiit niiiiiiw mmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiimiHiiiiiiii i niKiu Miiiminii West find aboriginal welfare discretion of supervisors with­ worker, Mrs. P. J. Wilding, out right of appeal. had this to say: "I have seen • REMOVAL of children aboriginals refused jobs and from parents, without any 'WHAT NONSENSE' accommodation, and they onus of proof of neglect. have told me of mistreatment l"^EAR Sir, ^We read with some concern the article written • POWERS over marriage by Tom Toogood in "Semper Floreat," 1/5/59, wherein that would shock any person of individuals. with any sense of human dig­ 'ic states that aborigines arc incarcerated against their will on nity," • CENSORSHIP of mall. Government and Church Settlements. MARGARET VALADIAN, Semper has heard froth • ISOLATION from out­ We very definitely refute 21, who hopes to start the many aboriginals — all of side visitors. this statement as false. Social Studies course next whom decline to reveal their • COMPULSORY work We on this Settlement are year. (See P.S). I names because of a genuine and low wages. at liberty to leave at any time • HOLDING of wages and merely by obtaining our management of property with­ exemption Certificates, which out individual permission. are available for the asking, INTELLECTUAL ABILITY: but we feel we are belter off Scholarship Grade—so much JSj) Lecturer in Psjic/io/ogjl, on the Settlement and have for the lack of education men­ no wish to leave. tioned in the article, DONALD J. TUCBY IT IS REAL Aboriginal dinner, Mr. Toogood also states the iHE notion that Aus­ to get higher status, personal Mr, Toogood also needs to private property of an abor­ tralian aborigines are satisfaction or payment for so "Immediately the woman Symposium plan aet his facts straight about igine may be seized arbi­ T doing, and some of us are not. summoned the policeman in the trial by jury, and onus of trarily. While this may be incapable of intellectual The. majority of Aborigines charge of that particular A recent ABSCHOL Com­ proof, etc. We get the same mittee meeting decided on an hearing as anybody else. stated in the Act, we have effort is nonsense. are not—It Is just as mean­ building and charged the boy Aboriginal Dinner at Lennons not experienced this here. Anyone who studies Alwrl- ingless for them to become an with 'giving her cheek". during National Aborigines' Regarding censorship of In conclusion, we fee! that ginal social organisation or architect or a librarian as it is The boy was then "tried" Week (July 7-14). mail, our mall Is not censored far too much nonsense is being for you and I to become a and punished. here, either In or out, and as mythology realises that tliese Other features planned in written by people like Mr. cultural products are complex medicine-man. Other aboriginals who have for the low wages mentioned, Toogood, and that it is doing The minority of Aborigines experienced settlement life the publicity drive for the writer has not taken into .and well integrated. Anyone ABSCHOL funds are: us more harm than good. who studies Aboriginal utiliza­ wlio are making the effort to said that at Camp X "things account the free issues of Yours faithfully, succeed in western cultural go on that you wouldn't A play on the theme of as­ food, clothing and tobacco, J. STANLEY, Hon. Secretary, tion of the meagre resources similation as-it-could-be using of an Australian desert terms have two major difficul­ dream existed in your own no rent, and power and light Social and Welfare Associa­ ties: they must take over new country." aboriginal and white players free. tion, Palm Island, Aboriginal realises that Aborigines are at St. Lucia's Tree Theatre. highly skilled, intelligent and behaviour patterns, and face a A Dunwich tribal leader We flnd we are better off Settlement. adaptable. And so it is.with barrier of prejudice. told Semper: "Something has A symposium on the abori­ here than on Award Wages the whole human family, each Any attempt to ttsfelst Abori­ to be done some time.