COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
NORTH AUSTRALIA ADMINISTRATION
CEC/LRS (No 29/152)
Department of Health, Darwin
1st March 1929
Memorandum to:
His Honour, the Government Resident, Darwin
A considerable amount of publicity more or less undesirable has recently been given to the conduct of Aboriginal Affairs in North and Central Australia. It has become customary for so called Aboriginal Friends Societies to decry the Commonwealth System as compared to that of the States. Two separate Commissions of Inquiry were appointed during 1928 and doubtless their Reports are now receiving the Minister’s consideration. This is, therefore, an opportune moment for recalling the objections which were raised to the Bleakley Investigation by this Branch when it was first proposed, and for submitting to the Minister an outline of an Aboriginal Policy which seems to offer an economical and effective solution o this perennial problem. It is hoped that these suggestions may be found useful by the Minister in conjunction with Reports already in his hands.
At the outset it should be noted that hitherto the field of Aboriginal Protection Departments both in the Territory and in the States has been:-
- Regulation of Employment for the prevention of exploitation and fraud.
- Care of the Aged and Infirm.
- Care of the Sick.
- Care of the Hybrid.
These various activities have been carried to a variable degree of efficiency by the several State Departments concerned. Their efficiency is largely determined by the social and economic circumstances of the districts involved. In Queensland, for example, where the White Population is comparatively heavy and the Black proportionately sparse, the rate of pay for Aboriginals can be prescribed on a basis approaching the minimum White wage. Old and Infirm may be collected on to special Aboriginal Stations and the Sick may be treated by arrangement with established Hospitals. Uninformed persons and organisations are apt to compare Territory procedure with that established in Queensland, overlooking the fact that conditions of population are here reversed and the Queensland procedure which they adopt as a standard is utterly impracticable and wholly undesirable in the Territory. Whereas in Queensland and the greater part of Western Australia the Chief Protector is concerned in caring for the occasional Aboriginal in a country wholly under White Civilisation, in the Territory and in the Kimberley district of Western Australia the process is one of regulating inter-racial relationships in a country where the native remains predominant and the White is an occasional settler. My objection to our Policy being referred to a State Official, however experienced, was founded on the view that we are faced in the Territory with problems with which the States have no better experience than we and with which, in some instances, they themselves have failed to cope. On the other hand in many points we are further advanced than the States and the adoption of a State Official’s recommendation might mean retrogression. It is only to the misinformed and uninitiated Southerner, dazzled by the glamour of State Aboriginal Settlements, wholly impracticable here, that our Policy appears inferior to our neighbours’.
My view has always been that the function of Aboriginal Protection is a medical preserve. Even the three fields of activity above mentioned which in all States have been vested in lay Officers, if taken broadly require a Medical Officer’s administration to be effectively performed.
(a) Employment. The bare issue of licences to employ and agreements to ensure the prevention of exploitation and fraud which have been so studiously followed by the States are insufficient steps to supervise employment. Employment brings natives into intimate contact with other Races, some afflicted with communicable disease, some characteristically given to vicious practices. Aboriginals in North Queensland have been scourged by Leprosy and Ankylostomiasis – to mention only two diseases – mainly because in the past no precaution was taken to supervise their relationships with these Races. Once affected with an Endemic Disease the Aboriginal is a potential menace to successful White settlement. The control of inter-racial relations and consequently of Aboriginal employment is, therefore, a field of preventive Medicine for the better exclusion of Malaria, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Hookworm and Venereal Disease. Certain trades, moreover, apparently harmless in themselves, are noxious to Aboriginals; certain Aboriginals are unfitted for certain trades. Study of these problems must be made by a Medical Service in close touch with the subject and efficient Protection is only possible when the Medical Service controls and directs Aboriginal employment.
(b) Care of the Aged and Infirm. This field is in Queensland a simple matter. There the native’s life no longer has any resemblance to that of his ancestors. It is congenial to the native and convenient to the White to remove him to a Settlement for the better supervision of his health. In the Territory, on the other hand, the Aboriginal’s country is his Home. Except for certain artificial restrictions imposed by advancing civilisation, he is as free as were his ancestors three centuries ago. Settlements on an adequate scale are at once utterly impracticable, far too costly and wholly undesirable in the Territory. Here it is necessary to ration indigent natives in their own tribal districts. The issue of clothing and rations would appear to be strictly the field of a non-professional Officer. On the contrary certain clothing, by predisposing to Tuberculosis, is a menace to the Myall Aboriginal and an economical food issue, for each district, can only be determined by an Officer, well acquainted with the food values of various articles of diet, who can estimate the quantity of any article, required to supplement available native food to give an adequate and properly balanced diet. Any other system is at once inadequate and wasteful. Recommendations for the better protection of Rural Aboriginals were made by me in my Memorandum of 10th March 1928 and deferred ending Mr. Bleakley’s Report.
(c) Care of the Sick. In civilised parts of the States every hamlet has its Medical Officer and its Hospital. The few Aboriginals there remaining have access to the Public Hospitals and to that extent the function of caring for the Sick is easily carried out by the Chief Protectors. Even in those parts of the States where conditions resemble the Territory, however the Myall Rural Aboriginal is neglected. This point is overlooked by the Southern Public. No inquiry is instituted by Chief Protectors as to the diseases afflicting the native and no effort is made to treat him.
Acting for the Commonwealth I have discovered numerous cases of neglect even on Government Aboriginal Stations. At Palm Island in 1926 I detected several Aboriginals suffering from Leprosy and Granuloma in an advanced stage of disease, wandering at large on the Station. Hookworm is recognised by Commonwealth Medical Officers as having an incidence of 100% in North Queensland Aboriginals. When on one occasion I endeavoured to arrange for the treatment of Aboriginals for Hookworm in a certain North Queensland District I was refused assistance by the responsible Protector.
Shortly after my appointment as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Protector here, I instituted routine procedures directed against the dissemination of endemic and communicable diseases and inaugurated a system for the regular Medical inspection of Aboriginals and the treatment of the diseased. Contiguous States were invited to co-operate and all agreed to do so. Since the commencement of the of the interchange of notifications the following have been recorded:
Obviously the figures for other States are misleading. Notwithstanding the Nil Return for Central Australia, Dr. Walker a Ship’s Surgeon, who recently passed through Darwin, informed me that he had toured Central Australia, during the period here covered, and observed many cases of Granuloma and Yaws, of which he had a collection of photographs.
Although in North Australia an attempt has been made to deal with disease amongst the Aboriginals much remains to be done. The Rural Aboriginal has no system of Medicine. It is the function of the Chief Protector to make good this want. Apart altogether from humanitarian considerations endemic disease in the Aboriginal is a direct menace to successful White settlement of Tropical Australia.
The provision of a Medical Service for the unsettled districts of North Australia is part of the price which the People of the Commonwealth must pay for the White Australian Policy.
Care of the Hybrid
In Queensland the halfcaste has been treated as an Aboriginal and left to his fate amongst the remnants of his tribal ancestors. In North and Central Australia an effort has been made to save the white element in his constitution from further dilution and to educate him to the standard of citizenship. I make bold to aver the Policy is being justified.
The Halfcaste, however, is peculiarly susceptible to endemic disease. He is, therefore, unless adequately cared for, a danger to the White fellow-citizen, with whom it is policy to have him associate as an equal.
The Quadroon, to whom the nation must look for the complete breeding out of colour, is, in infancy, exceptionally difficult to rear. The Quadroon infant appears to lack the hardiness of the Aboriginal and, on the other hand, does not usually receive, from the Half-caste Mother, the maternal care which like a white child it requires.
I submit that in recognising these essential phases of Protection overlooked by the States and in directing activities accordingly the Commonwealth has placed its Protection of Aboriginals on a plane far beyond the States and it is regrettable that this fact is not appreciated by the Public. Improvement, however, is desirable particularly in Central Australia in order that better medical supervision of Aboriginals may be affected. To this end I recommend the appointment of additional Medical Officers – one to be stationed at Mataranka, as already recommended and one, for the Western Districts, stationed near the Western Australia Border. These, in conjunction with a Medical Officer at Stuart, will enable the Commonwealth to adopt a Policy of Aboriginal Protection far in advance of any provided by any States and one adapted to the special circumstances here existing.
Central Australia
Strictly speaking I may be out of order in commenting upon Aboriginal Protection in Central Australia. I venture to do so, however, on the ground that it is relevant to the subject matter of this Memorandum and that although there is no Medical Officer in that Territory, Ordinances and Regulations, from time to time recommended by me for North Australia, have been adopted for Central Australia also.
It is I think generally admitted that Central Australia should have a Medical Officer stationed at Stuart. When recently in Canberra, I gained the impression that the Department was anxious to place a Medical Officer there but was perplexed as to the best and most economical means of doing so. A proposal by Rev. Joh Flynn was I think under consideration but had reached no finality.
The points I have raised in the matter of Aboriginal Policy have equal weight when applied to Central Australia as in North Australia the Chief Protector is already a Medical Officer whereas in Central Australia he is a Police Officer. The Police as Protectors have received a bad public advertisement in connection with the recent shootings. It is desirable that the Medical Officer at Stuart, if appointed, should co-operate and co-ordinate his work with the Chief Medical Officer in Darwin.
For the better co-ordination of the work in both Territories, which share similar legislation in all things Aboriginal and Medical, the Medical Officer at Stuart should co-operate with the Chief Medical Officer of North Australia. This co-operation could best be ensured by appointing as Medical Officer and Chief Protector at Stuart an Officer of the North Australia Medical Service, responsible to the Chief Medical Officer in Darwin. This suggestion has additional points of advantage:-
- By enlarging the Staff of the Chief Medical Officer, Darwin, it tends to elevate the North Australia Medical Service appointments to “career” appointments, thus facilitating the enlistment of ambitious young Medical Officers at a lower rate of pay than would be the case in independent appointments.
- It would enable Medical and Aboriginal Research to be actively prosecuted upon a concerted plan.
- In the event of leave becoming due, sudden illness or departure at short notice, the Medical Officer at Stuart could be promptly relieved by another Officer of the Service, without interruption of continuity in Administration. It would probably be difficult to replace him for a short period if it were a separate appointment and in any event no continuity of Policy could be preserved.
- By periodically transferring Officers from Station to Station, the inevitable monotony of Bush Life would be avoided, stagnation and “rusting” to some extent prevented and greater contentment of Officers should tend to greater permanency, so that experienced Officers would always be available
- Officers will always have the prospect of promotion as a stimulus to good service and stability.
- By embodying an isolated appointment in a larger and recognised Commonwealth Medical Service, the Medical Offices could be enrolled as permanent Officers of the Public Service, paid at the award rate for Medical Officers of the Commonwealth Department of Health, plus a District Allowance and the Department could reasonably look for continuity of service.
Western Australia
The desirability of stationing a Medical Officer on the Western Border has already been mentioned. In order that his work be effectively and economically performed, he should have jurisdiction over natives on both sides of the border. Hall’s Creek, where there is an Australian Island Mission Hospital, offers as a convenient base and one which would enable the Medical Officer stationed there to attend to the wants of the Aboriginal and White Population from Fitzroy Crossing to Victoria River Downs.
I will go further and recommend that the Service be extended, by arrangement with the Western Australia Government, to include the whole of the Kimberly Division of Western Australia by incorporating in it the Medical Officers stationed at Broome, Derby and Wyndham.
Where this done the dual purpose of providing an improved Aboriginal Protection and Medical Service to the whole District, where it is most needed, would be accomplished and the Service itself would be provided with three additional Stations, one of which, Broome, would be an alternative Senior Station to Darwin.
The desirability cannot be disputed. Events at Broome in the matter of Ankylostomiasis and Leprosy have demonstrated the necessity of control there similar to that already exercised over Coloured persons in Darwin. Had timely preventive action been taken in Queensland the cost of controlling Leprosy and Ankylostomiasis might have been avoided. Malaria, Dysentery and Tuberculosis also threaten here.
I do not think the suggestion beset with practical difficulties. The existing Medical Officers at the Ports named could remain, but could be placed, partly or wholly under the Chief Medical Officer, Darwin, without additional expense. They could be appointed Protectors and give affect to the Commonwealth Policy. As these positions fall vacant the terms of appointment could be revised and Officers of the North Australia Medical Service appointed at a salary determined on the basis of the award rates for Medical Officers in the Commonwealth Department of Health, augmented by a District Allowance to be determined.
The Minister has recently been reported as expressing the opinion that the Commonwealth should assume all responsibility in respect of Aboriginals. I believe that if the Policy I have outlined is put into effect, the Commonwealth will, at very little expense, have established, in the area where it is most required, a Protection System far in advance of any yet attempted by the States and one which will go far to achieve immunity from the criticism of religious and other bodies, who have of late unfairly singled out the Territory, for comment, from amongst the Aboriginal Protection Departments.
I have previously urged unification of health control in North and Central Australia and in the adjoining States. One suggestion put forward by me was that the Federal Health Council should direct Hygiene Administration in that area. That arguments advanced by me for this unification are as strong today as they were then but unfortunately the Federal Health Council is constitutionally unable to undertake this function. The Policy here outlined offers an alternative – unification may be achieved by the extension of our activities to the whole area, including Camooweal. This I believe also to be economical, in that the wasteful and burdensome expense of transporting a small proportion of Aboriginal sick from their Tribal District to Darwin, whilst the remainder are neglected, will cease whilst the establishment of a Medical Service with “career” appointments will facilitate the enlistment of permanent Medical Officers at salaries less than may reasonably be demanded now. At the same time the Commonwealth will have provided a Medical Service for the White Inland Settlers such as is often sought but which appears unnecessarily extravagant when considered solely from the standpoint of its service to White Settlers.
Difficulties attendant upon minor differences in relevant existing State Legislation could I think be satisfactorily overcome by a conference of authorities actuated by a spirit of co-operation. Difficulties of communication between Darwin and the Kimberleys offer no obstacle to successful administration if properly organised.
Summary
I believe that conditions in North Australia, North West Australia and North West Queensland are such that the Aboriginal may best be protected by leaving him in his own country and supervising his employment and his health on the lines indicated. All schemes of segregation upon Missions, Special Settlements and Institutions have the disadvantages of interfering with the Aboriginal’s freedom and of removing the source of cheap labour from struggling pastoralists, whilst, on the other hand, they are expensive and probably foredoomed to failure. On the other hand the provision of Medical Officer Protectors is at once, in my opinion, the best system of protection and the cheapest, apart altogether from its utility in the matter of White Settlement with its indirect benefits:
- The stimulation of White Female settlement and the consequent improvement of inter-racial relationships.
- The conservation of the existing White Male population now a prey to venereal disease contracted from the untreated Aboriginal.
I have therefore, recommended that:
- The Commonwealth assume control of all Aboriginals North of 20th parallel and West of Queensland Border, in addition to Central Australia.
- The function of Protection be vested in a Medical Service, assisted by District Police Officers.
- Medical Officer Protectors be stationed at Stuart, Hall’s Creek and Mataranka, in addition to those now in Darwin.
- Negotiations be undertaken with Queensland and Western Australia to have Camooweal, Wyndham, Broome and Derby similarly staffed.
- Such Medical Officers be members of the Civil Service and paid at Award Rates for Medical Officers in the Commonwealth Department of Health, plus a District Allowance, to be determined.
Cecil Cook
Chief Medical Officer