'On 13 February 2008 Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson gave two very different apology speeches to the Stolen Generations. Rudd alluded to racism, eugenics and the immorality of past policies. Nelson spoke of benign intentions, goodness and the hurt felt by those accused of wrongdoings. Both cannot be true - or could they?
'Powerful and provocative, this is a beautifully written and very personal exploration of a little acknowledged part of Australian history - the role and motivations of the administrators and patrol officers who carried out these 'protection' policies. The questions Stephen Gray raises about guilt, judgement and good intentions apply as readily to the complexities of black/white relations today as they did one hundred years ago.
'This is an intelligent book that challenges how we judge the past and asks what exactly it was that the Australian nation said sorry for. It is a fresh contribution to white Australia's perennial search for national identity - an identity we need to now assert against the darker facts of our history on the continent.' (Publication summary)
'Let’s allow our history to be complicated, argues Tim Rowse in this review of two new books about black–white relations'
'Stephen Gray, lawyer and award-winning novelist and essayist, has turned his attention to the difficult intersection of history and morality. In The Protectors, Gray looks at the roles and motivations of some of the key players in the administration of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory between 1912 and the 1970s. He is concerned mainly with the question of whether we can or should judge the Chief Protectors and Directors of Native Affairs and Welfare and the patrol officers who served under them or, instead, attempt to understand them.' (Introduction)
'Let’s allow our history to be complicated, argues Tim Rowse in this review of two new books about black–white relations'
'Stephen Gray, lawyer and award-winning novelist and essayist, has turned his attention to the difficult intersection of history and morality. In The Protectors, Gray looks at the roles and motivations of some of the key players in the administration of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory between 1912 and the 1970s. He is concerned mainly with the question of whether we can or should judge the Chief Protectors and Directors of Native Affairs and Welfare and the patrol officers who served under them or, instead, attempt to understand them.' (Introduction)
