Page:Aboriginal welfare 1937.djvu/16

 Mr. BAILEY.—Is there any supervision in the Hammond unemployment camp?

Mr. PETTITT.—Canon Hammond exercises some supervision. The allotments and the cottages were made available to the people concerned for a small rental of 5s. or 6s. a week, and in the course of five, six or seven years the buildings become the property of the tenants. The money received from the rentals is used to build other houses and the scheme has a snowball effect. I understand that a fair proportion of the people who went into these places have returned to more or less normal employment. I am not saying that the scheme could be adopted in its entirety, but something along the same lines might be tried.

Mr. BAILEY.—Would you not have the concentration idea again in practise if that procedure were adopted?

Mr. PETTITT.—I understand that Canon Hammond's scheme has been criticised on the ground that it is developing a community of an undesirable character, but Canon Hammond denies that this is so. Of course, the same criticism has been advanced of settlements developed in the ordinary way by government aid to the unemployed. It is said that they result in a concentration of the same type of people. That is a point that would need to be considered. Mr. McLean spoke about the children of half-castes attending ordinary day schools. Our experience has been that in very many cases objection has been raised to this by Parents and Citizens Associations and sometimes other provision has had to be made. There are influences pulling in various directions.

Mr. BAILEY.—Is not the objection generally on the basis of health or unhygienic conditions?

Mr. PETTITT.—There seems to be a great deal of prejudice and antagonism on the score of colour alone. There is a good deal of mealy-mouthed hypocrisy about this business. Even some church people who should support us and who, in the abstract, agree that the aborigines have had a raw deal and that something should be done for them, often say, when it comes to the practical application of the principle: "For God's sake do something for these people, but do it alongside other men and not alongside us".

As far as citizenship rights are concerned, every aboriginal, whether full-blooded or otherwise, possesses a State vote, while every half-caste enjoys a vote for Federal purposes. Except when they are on the reserves, and except that they are not allowed to obtain liquor, they enjoy all the rights and privileges of the white people. They may join unions, work where they like, and live where they like. It is not true to say that they are inarticulate. Only at little while ago, at a political gathering, there was passed a motion inspired by a half-caste who had been dealt with on one of our reserves.

Statements have been made from time to time about aboriginal girls in domestic service becoming pregnant. In New South Wales, we throw the responsibility on the employer for the physical and moral well-being of apprentices. As a matter of fact, the number of girls who get into trouble is negligible. Most of them serve right through their apprenticeship, and continue in the same employment for years. We consider that if we can keep them away from the dangers of camp life until they reach years of discretion we are doing good work. They are employed both in the country and in the city, and we very careful in the selection of the homes into which they are introduced. In the cities there is a constant demand for them from the best class of suburb, and we never have any difficulty in finding places for them.

Dr. MORRIS.—What chance is there of those girls marrying?

Mr. PETTITT.—We make provision for that by allowing them to return to their own homes for a holiday after a number of years. There they generally meet some young fellow of their own colour. Sometimes they are married more or less immediately, and remain, or arrange to marry some time in the future. The problem then, of course, is to set the young man up in life independent of the reserve.

Mr. McLEAN.—Are these girls constrained by force to remain in their employment, and, if so, what happens when they quarrel with their employers?

Mr. PETTITT.—We deal with each case on its merits. Very often we find that it is a question of incompatibility of temperament, and we move the girl to other employment. It has sometimes happened that, after two or three shifts, a girl meets with an employer with whom she is perfectly happy. We do not force a child to remain in a place if she is miserable there.

Mr. BAILEY.—Is it your experience that, when half-castes marry and set up homes of their own, they tend to harbour other blacks?

Mr. PETTITT.—There is a tendency in that direction, but we have many instances in which the setting up of such homes has been attended by outstanding success. I know of one couple who married, and built a first-class cottage which was fully paid for, and their standard of living is equal to that of any one else.

Mr. BAILEY.—My own opinion is that it would be better in the interests of half-castes to take them away from their parents, but I know that public opinion would not sanction such a course.

GENERAL DISCUSSION.

Mr. NEVILLE.—Dr. Cook referred to the problem of preserving the full-blooded aborigine, and I agree largely with what he said. In my opinion, however, the problem is one which will eventually solve itself. There are a great many full-blooded aborigines in Western Australia living their own natural lives. They are not, for the most part, getting enough food, and they are, in fact, being decimated by their own tribal practices. In my opinion, no matter what we do, they will die out. It is interesting to note that on the departmental cattle stations established in the far north for the preservation of these people, the number of full-blooded children is increasing, because of the care the people get. The establishment of these stations has also had the effect of putting an end to the cattle killing which formerly prevailed. At the present time, however, there are in Western Australia about 10,000 full-blooded aborigines who are detribalized, but among them there are only 1,932 children. On the other hand, among the 2,559 half-castes there are approximately 2,000 children. It will be seen, therefore, that the problem of the future will be not with the full-bloods, but with the coloured people of various degrees. The full-bloods may be looked after on the cattle stations for the time being, but their number is decreasing rapidly as the result of tribal practices. In a bad season in the north practically no children are reared, while in a good season, the number may he fairly considerable. Infanticide and abortion are extensively practised amongst the bush people. They follow their own customs, and no attempt to influence them has much result. We have to consider whether we should allow any race living amongst us to practice the abominations which are prevalent among these people.

Mr. HARKNESS.—Do they actually kill the children?

Mr. NEVILLE.—Yes, they just knock them on the head if they cannot feed them. Of course, if there is food, the children are fed and looked after. However, so many women have become sterile through the practice of abortion that the percentage who can bear children is now small.