RBAN ABORIGINES guFay Gälc assisted by Alison Brookman brt This book concerns the re-entry of Aborigines into Australian life—specifically the life of urban Adelaide—after generations of restriction to isolated rural areas. Aborigines are moving into Australian cities in increasing numbers—in 1957 one in sixteen of South Australia’s Aborigines lived in Adelaide, by 1966 one in four did so. Some adjust easily to city life, others face seemingly insoluble problems of housing and employment, social tensions, health and welfare, education and law. Often their experience on reserves and the fringes of small towns has in no way prepared them for urban life. The physical confrontation involved in this re-entry is already leading to legislative and social changes for Aborigines. It is beginning to arouse public conscience about Aboriginal conditions, and the voice of the Aboriginal is beginning to be heard. This study is a representative picture of Aborigines in Australian cities today, and it speaks for the future of Australia, black and white. This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991. This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press. This project aims to make past scholarly works published by The Australian National University available to a global audience under its open-access policy. URBAN ABORIGINES I fa ;• "k e t 'tourn > i Eu< I O R IA L DEPARTMENT Immim national un ivebsitt RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE ^ f ' S o PUBLiCATiON DATE n Aborigines in Australian Society 8 A series sponsored by The Social Science Research Council of Australia URBAN ABORIGINES Fay Gale Assisted by Alison Brookman AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY PRESS CANBERRA 1 9 7 2 © Social Science Research Council oj Australia 1972 This hook is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may he reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should he made to the publisher. Registered in Australia for transmission by post as a book. National Library of Australia Card no. & IS B N 0 7081 0259 X Library oj Congress Catalog Card no. 19-190694 URBAN ABORIGINES NOTE ON THE SERIES n r 'h e Social Science Research Council of Australia (now The Academy A of the Social Sciences in Australia), which was founded in its present form in 1952, is the national organisation of social scientists. Some of its major functions are: to encourage the advancement of the social sciences in Australia; to act as a co-ordinating group for the promotion of research and teaching in the social sciences; to foster research and to subsidise the publication of studies in the social sciences. To these ends the Council has sponsored a number of major research projects. The first related to the role of women in public and professional life in Australia and was carried out by Mr Norman MacKcnzic. His report, together with the associated study of the legal status of women in Australia by Dr Enid Campbell, was published in 1962 in a book, Women in Australia (F.W. Cheshire Pty Ltd, Melbourne). The second major project, carried out by a group of economists, was concerned with the Australian taxation structure and under the authorship of R.I. Downing, H.W. Arndt, A.H. Boxer, and R.L. Mathews, the results were published in 1964 in Taxation in Australia: Agenda for Reform (Melbourne University Press, Melbourne). In 1963 the Council approved its third and most ambitious major project, Aborigines in Australian Society, with the broad objectives of: elucidating the problems arising from contacts between Aborigines and non-Aborigines and formulating policy implications from these; VI NOTE ON THE SERIES drawing together existing knowledge in various parts of Australia and undertaking such further original research as can be carried out over a period of three years. In May 1964, Mr C.D. Rowley, formerly Principal of the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney, was appointed Director of the Project, to work under the general guidance of a Project Committee appointed by the Council. The volumes now being published represent a major research enterprise in which many social scientists collaborated over the length and breadth of Australia. However, the whole enterprise depended in very large measure on the magnificent support received, from the outset, from the Myer Foundation of Australia and the Sidney Myer Charity Trust. The Council wishes to acknowledge its gratitude for their generosity. W.D. B orrie Canberra, 1969 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS f I 'he most important people involved in assisting with this study are, A ot course, the Aborigines of Adelaide, but so many helped in so many different ways and in differing degrees that I hesitate to single out any individuals by name. I can however thank formally the members of the two Aboriginal associations in Adelaide, the Aborigines’ Progress Association and the Council for Aboriginal Women of South Australia. In the academic field the one to whom I am most indebted is Professor Graham H. Lawton, of the Department of Geography, University of Adelaide. W ithout his encouragement and assistance with both facilities and finance this study would never have been completed. But then, too, the study may never have begun had it not been for Professor C.D. Rowley, Professor of Political Studies at the University of Papua and New Guinea. When he was Director of the Aborigines Project of the Social Science Research Council he suggested this topic to me and the Council supported the initial stages of the project. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies provided the study with money to employ a part-time research assistant for the first three years. Additional funds were provided by the University of Adelaide under its Research Grant for the payment of casual assistance, computing, and travelling. Without financial assistance from these sources this study could not have been attempted let alone completed. Mrs Glenys Little began work as research assistant in 1965 and organised the initial collections of data and helped to systematise the study. Mrs David Brookman took over the position of research assistant at the end of 1965 and continued for the duration of the study. I am grateful for her enthusiasm and perscvcrence. When funds were depleted Mrs Brookman continued on an almost voluntary basis to help organise the material for publication. The collection and checking of data took a long time and I am grateful for the assistance given by a number of social work students in the early stages of this project. They are too numerous to mention by name but they will always be remembered for the impetus they gave to this study. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The amount of detail amassed from a study of such a large population made it necessary to use a computer in analysing the results. Mr D. Simmons, formerly manager of the computing centre at the University of Adelaide, planned the recording schedules. Dr Jeorge Kautsky and his wife, Dana, programmed the collected material. The field data could not have been checked and correlated with recorded material had it not been for the generous co-operation of the directors and staffs of several government departments. I owe thanks in particular to Mr John Millar and the staff of the former Department of Aboriginal Affairs. As well as the government departments and public hospitals, private welfare, medical, and educational institutions which dealt in any way with individual Aborigines provided valuable assistance. I am most appreciative of the assistance given by so many persons, too numerous to name, in these departments and centres. The final preparation of the material for publication owes much to Mrs J. Johnsen, Mrs B. Parker, and Miss S. Nott who typed the manu­ scripts and to Dr Diane Barwick, Australian National University, Mr S. Casson, Parliamentary librarian, Miss Catherine Guinness, Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Dr F. Lancaster Jones, Australian National University, Dr J. Norelle Lickiss, University of Tasmania, Mr Cameron Stuart, stipendiary magistrate, and Mr A. Whitelaw, Education Department, who each read various sections of the manuscript. My husband, Milton Gale, edited the final manuscript for publication, suggested numerous corrections, and prepared the index. The maps and diagrams in this book were constructed in the carto­ graphy laboratory of the Department of Geography, University of Adelaide, by Mr Kevin Harris with Mr Max Foalc as adviser. The Commonwealth Office of Aboriginal Affairs and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies gave grants to assist in the preparation of this material for publication. The State Library of South Australia provided photographic equipment and I am grateful to Mr R.L. Commane for his assistance. Other plates, acknowledged individually, have been reproduced with the kind per­ mission of the Advertiser Newspapers Ltd and the South Australian Department of Lands. Most of all I wish to thank the Aboriginal people of Adelaide for the interest they have shown in this study, and I hope that, as a result, they will be rewarded by an improvement in their overall situation. F.G. CONTENTS Note on the Series, by W.D. Borrie v Acknowledgments vii Abbreviations , xiv Introduction 1 I METHODOLOGY 1 The approach 9 II THE SETTING 2 The study location 27 3 Background to Aboriginal affairs in South Australia 36 4 Legislation for Aborigines in South Australia 50 III THE URBAN SITUATION