– Cook’s comments after introductory remarks p13-14
I shall refer, first, to the advance made in connexion with the treatment of half-castes in the Northern Territory. About 1929, the Commonwealth committed itself to a policy of lifting half-castes to the standard of the whites. That policy, which has since been adopted by Western Australia, has been assailed from time to time, and, therefore, I will give reasons for it.
The white population in the Northern Territory is less than 4,000. Unless some unforeseen event occurs, such as the discovery of oil in payable quantities, or of valuable discoveries of precious metals, that population is not likely to exceed 10,000 or 12,000 in the next half century. Notwithstanding that the establishment of a garrison, naval base and airport at Darwin will increase the present white population there, and provide further avenues for employment and development, I do not think that estimate will be exceeded.
The natural increase of the white population in the Northern Territory is minus 0.3 per 1,000, so that, if left to itself, the white population will eventually die out. The natural increase of the half-caste population of the territory is 18 per 1,000. The census reveals a half-caste population of 758 in the territory, but as half-castes with alien fathers are not included in the half-caste population, the estimate is low. A more correct approximation of the half-caste population of the territory would be 900. They are nearly all young, at least half of them being children.
We have to face the position of raising them collaterally with the white population of 4,000. In other words, there is now a population of half-castes which is one-fifth of the total whites, and having a natural increase of 18 per 1,000 compared with the white rate of minus 0.3 per 1,000, and it is only a matter of time before the half-caste population will approximate that of the white population.
In my opinion the Northern Territory cannot absorb all these people in employment, and, consequently, the question of disposing of the half-caste population arises. Should the total population reach 10,000, there will be work for say, 3,000 of them. The problem will then arise as to who will do the work that is available. If half-castes are employed, the whites will be unemployed and they will leave the country. If on the other hand the whites are employed, the half-castes will be out of work, and will have to be maintained by the Commonwealth Government.
The prospects in 50 years time may be classified as in one of three groups:
- First, there might be a white population in employment, all the work available being performed by white men. Included in the population would be a large number of half-caste adults, physically fit for work, but unable to obtain it, because of exclusion by law. They must be dependent on the territory for maintenance.
- Second, instead of excluding them (half-castes) by law from employment, they might be employed in one of two ways. They might be employed as a subject race, at lower rates of pay, with white men occupying the supervising positions. That, however, would deprive large numbers of white men of the opportunity to live in the Northern Territory, and the work would be performed by an inferior type of individual existing on a lower standard than that of the white. In such circumstances, the extra white population would have to migrate.
- Thirdly, the half-caste and the white man might be given parity, each competing with the other for the work available. In that event, the half-caste would have to go if he could not compete with the white. Each of these alternatives has an unsatisfactory aspect.
I suggest that if the half-caste is maintained at an inferior status, and he multiplies more quickly than is the case with whites, an untenable position will eventually arise. The half-caste population will probably rise in revolt, and, in any case, it will promote racial conflict which may be serious. If, on the other hand, the half-caste is raised to the level of the white, he will be able to migrate to other parts of Australia, and compete there with white men on an even footing should employment not be available for him in the territory. That would relieve tension in the territory. After consideration of these alternatives, the Commonwealth has seen no reason to regret the policy it has adopted, although it has been in operation for only seven or eight years.
If we accept the policy in relation to the half-castes, and admit all its implications, the question of the aboriginal raises a similar problem. In respect of aborigines, the Commonwealth recently adopted a policy somewhat analogous to that detailed by Mr. Bleakley. It divided the aborigines into three classes.
- First, there are the wild, uncivilised blacks, who, temporarily at least, are to be left on their reserves to live their own lives as aborigines, uninfluenced by white activities, except that the Minister might permit Missions to exercise some control over them.
- Secondly, there are the semi-civilised aborigines, living in the neighbourhood of white settlements – chiefly pastoral properties – and it is proposed that they shall continue more or less as at present. They shall continue to be employed on stations, care being taken that they and their dependents shall not suffer by reason of the employment of able-bodied young men. In the vicinity of such places of employment it is proposed to provide reserves where unemployed aborigines will be more or less maintained under tribal conditions by those in employment, and, whither during times of unemployment those who have been employment might retire. The purpose of these reserves is to provide the aborigines with the means of maintaining the present state of existence – a semi-tribal life – but the ultimate intention is that they shall be brought under the same control as those who are now regarded as detribalised.
- (Thirdly) in the vicinity of the white settlements, it is proposed that the detribalised aborigines shall be educated and trained in various avocations, in which they can make a living without competing with the whites.
There is no essential difference between the policy of the Commonwealth and that detailed by Mr. Bleakley.
Were a policy of laissez faire followed, the aborigines would probably be extinct with 50 years. Most of the aboriginal women would become sterilised by gonorrhoea at an early age; many would die of disease, and some of starvation. If aborigines are protected physically and morally, before long there will be in the Northern Territory, a (very populous) black race, already numbering about 19,000 and multiplying at a rate far in excess of that of the whites.
If we leave them alone, they will die, and we shall have no problem, apart from the pangs of conscience which must attend from the passing of a neglected race. If, on the other hand, with the elaborate methods of protection which every conscientious protector would adopt, we shall raise another problem which may eventually become a serious one from a national viewpoint, for we shall have in the Northern Territory, and possibly in North-western Australia also, a large black population that might drive out the white.
The policy of the Commonwealth is to do everything possible to convert the half-caste into a white citizen. The question arises whether the same policy should not be adopted in relation to the aborigines. In my opinion, there are three alternatives.
- First, we adopt a policy of laissez faire, which, to every Protector of Aborigines, is repugnant;
- Secondly, we may develop an enlightened, elaborate system of protection which will develop a native population that is likely to swamp the white; or
- Thirdly, we may follow a policy under which the aboriginal will be absorbed into the white population.
My view is that unless the black population is speedily absorbed into the white, the process will soon be reversed, and in 50 years, or a little later, the white population of the Northern Territory will be absorbed into the black. I suggest that we first decide what our ultimate objective should be, and then discuss the means to that end.
(P17) The point I tried to make in my earlier remarks was that if we leave the Aborigines in the north alone they will die out. On the other hand if we bring them under our influence they will breed and their numbers will increase until they menace our security.
(Q) Do you think we should encourage them to breed?
I am not expressing an opinion at the moment. As protectors of Aborigines, having regard to these possibilities we should discuss what our policy is to be. In the last seven or eight years, between 40 and 50 coloured girls have married whites.
EXTRACT RE: laissez faire
Were a policy of laissez faire followed, the aborigines would probably be extinct with 50 years. Most of the aboriginal women would become sterilised by gonorrhoea at an early age; many [aborigines] would die of disease, and some of starvation. If we leave them alone, they will die, and we shall have no problem, apart from the pangs of conscience which must attend from the passing of a neglected race.
21 April 1937