COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
NORTHERN TERRITORY MEDICAL SERVICE
DARWIN 7th February 1933
His Honour
The Administrator of the Northern Territory
DARWIN
With further reference to previous memoranda in which I have called attention to the very grave problem which has been developing in Northern Australia owing to the intermarriage of alien coloured races with aboriginals and half-castes, it is strongly recommended that the Commonwealth take action to have the States, particularly Queensland and Western Australia, adopt a policy uniform with that of the Commonwealth.
For years it seems that Protectors of Aboriginals have regarded it as undesirable that a half-caste or quarter-caste aboriginal should be mated with a white. On the other hand mating with Japanese, South-Sea Islanders, Chinese and hybrid coloured aliens has been regarded as a very admirable solution to what was regarded as the marriage problem of the coloured girls some of whom had over seventy-five percent white blood. The result has been the accumulation of a hybrid coloured population of very low order. I am unable to speak for Western Australia and Queensland but these coloured individuals constitute a perennial economic and social problem in the Northern Territory and their multiplication throughout the north of the country is likely to be attended by very grave consequences to Australia as a nation.
In the Territory the mating of an aboriginal with any person other than an aboriginal is prohibited. The mating of coloured aliens with any female of part aboriginal blood is also prohibited. Every endeavour is being made to breed out the colour by elevating female half-castes to white standard with a view to their absorption by mating into the white population. The adoption of a similar policy throughout the Commonwealth is, in my opinion, a matter of vital importance.
Cecil Cook
Chief Protector of Aboriginals