When Europeans first arrived in the Kimberley, a turbulent era began for the Indigenous people. To survive, they aligned themselves with white men through unspoken and unequal contracts of ownership of protection. Aboriginal men were forced to fight for their own women, children and resources, and many were driven away from pastoral stations or gaoled.
Until 1968, when equal wages were finally granted, black pastoral workers received only a pocket money allowance and rations. By then the stations no longer sustained them, and Aboriginal people gradually moved toward towns and reserves, where Welfare and Social Security became their only means of survival.
In this absorbing study, survivors of this devastating time speak openly to the author about first contact between blacks and whites, the arrival of Welfare, and the demise of pastoralism in the northern ranges. Alongside their oral testimonies, the author draws on a range of written archives to explore what really happened during the settlement of the Kimberley.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Storytellers and key characters
Abbreviations
Map of the Kimberley
Introduction: the region, the project and the people
Chapter 1 Battle for the New Country 1903-1914
Chapter 2: 'Stone blind in their need of Christ': the early days Bosses 1915-1930
Chapter 3: 'Taught to Kill': soldier settlers and the station 'family'
Chapter 4: The big round-up: the leprosy campaign and its aftermath
Chapter 5: The struggle for authority: settling down
Chapter 6: 'To jingle a few coins in their pockets': the arrival of welfare 1948-1959
Chapter 7: Pastoral paternalism turns sour 1959-1972
Conclusion
Epilogue
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
