A history of Aboriginal communities in New South Wales, 1909-1939

Abstract

This thesis traces NSW Aboriginal political activity and demands from 1909 to 1939. In examining the background to the situations of Aboriginal communities in the early 1900's, two factors appear to have been of major importance. One was the degree of compatibility between Aboriginal and rural capitalist land use. The other was the labour requirements of rural industries. There are clear indications of internal colonial economic relations continuing until at least the late 1930's. As European land use intensified regionally, Aborigines attempted to secure their position by demanding tenure over land of significance to them. Initially, the creation of reserves was as much a result of this Aboriginal demand as of white settler desires to segregate Aborigines.