'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)