The new Assimilation Policy

The new Welfare Ordinance reflected a shift from the era of ‘Protection’ to a new era of ‘Assimilation’.

The old Protection era focused on the idea of ‘breeding out the colour’ of half-castes, or miscegenation.

The new policy of Assimilation was defined by Minister of Territories Paul Hasluck in 1951:

“Assimilation means in practical terms, that in the course of time it is expected that all persons of Aboriginal blood or mixed blood in Australia, will live like white Australians do. The acceptance of this policy governs all other aspects of native affairs administration.”

Under this policy, not just half-castes but full blood Aboriginals would be free – so long as they were no longer ‘Aboriginal’ in any way other than colour.

Hasluck was actually a voice of sanity in many respects, believing that some Aboriginals would need more help than others, and that absorbing Aboriginals into mainstream Australia would take time.

We might (quite rightly) interpret the Ordinance as patronising and interfering, or even promoting exploitation. It certainly showed whites were determined Aboriginals should abandon any trace of Aboriginal beliefs, practices or identity, so a cultural form of genocide was to continue.

On the other hand, if it had been implemented by people of good will and in the right spirit, the Ordinance might have been more constructive than it turned out to be.