'As Australia became a nation in 1901, no-one anticipated that ‘Aboriginal affairs’ would become an on-going national preoccupation.
'Not ‘dying out’ as predicted, Aboriginal numbers recovered and – along with Torres Strait Islanders – they became an articulate presence, aggrieved at colonial authority’s interventions into family life and continuing dispossession. Indigenous and Other Australians since 1901 narrates their recovery – not only in numbers but in cultural confidence and critical self-awareness. Pointing to Indigenous leaders, it also reassesses the contribution of government and mission ‘protection’ policies and the revised definitions of ‘Aboriginal’. Timothy Rowse explains why Australia has conceded a large Indigenous Land and Sea Estate since the 1960s, and argues that the crisis in ‘self-determination’ since 2000 has been fuelled by Indigenous critique of the selves that they have become.
'As Indigenous people put themselves at the centre of arguments about their future, this book could not be more timely.' (Publication summary)
Indigenous and Other Australians Since 1901 explores how, despite widespread settler belief at Federation that Indigenous people would ‘die out’, they in fact survived, and populations have grown rapidly, with debates on their position in Australian society now a defining political issue. There are important insights throughout the book and some fascinating historical material is presented from Rowse’s comprehensive research. In particular, Rowse develops a powerful devise of distinguishing between (loosely categorised) ‘South’ and ‘North’ Australia, insisting that the very idea of a unified ‘Australia’ remains a ‘Southern continental projection’ by a ‘settler-colonial nation state’.' (Introduction)
'Tim Rowse has a rare talent for making us see things anew. He has done it in earlier books, but his latest takes that talent to new heights. It scrutinises the history of engagements between Indigenous and other Australians from federation through to the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, with particular attentiveness to the recovery of the Indigenous peoples, demographically, culturally, politically and legally.' (Introduction)
'To the layperson, the shifts and variations in government policy and its effects on Aboriginal lives can be bewildering, even during the past decade. Tim Rowse has done a great service by analysing more than a century of this tangled history, locating its patterns and its driving forces and making sense of it. He has produced a humane and convincing account of the demographic and social recovery of an Aboriginal population as it absorbed and accommodated the effects of intrusive social policies. At one level, Indigenous and Other Australians since 1901 provides a coherent account of the origins, implications, and outcomes of Aboriginal policy formation since Federation, ranging deftly across state and territory jurisdictions, decade by decade.' (Introduction)
'Tim Rowse has a rare talent for making us see things anew. He has done it in earlier books, but his latest takes that talent to new heights. It scrutinises the history of engagements between Indigenous and other Australians from federation through to the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, with particular attentiveness to the recovery of the Indigenous peoples, demographically, culturally, politically and legally.' (Introduction)
Indigenous and Other Australians Since 1901 explores how, despite widespread settler belief at Federation that Indigenous people would ‘die out’, they in fact survived, and populations have grown rapidly, with debates on their position in Australian society now a defining political issue. There are important insights throughout the book and some fascinating historical material is presented from Rowse’s comprehensive research. In particular, Rowse develops a powerful devise of distinguishing between (loosely categorised) ‘South’ and ‘North’ Australia, insisting that the very idea of a unified ‘Australia’ remains a ‘Southern continental projection’ by a ‘settler-colonial nation state’.' (Introduction)
'To the layperson, the shifts and variations in government policy and its effects on Aboriginal lives can be bewildering, even during the past decade. Tim Rowse has done a great service by analysing more than a century of this tangled history, locating its patterns and its driving forces and making sense of it. He has produced a humane and convincing account of the demographic and social recovery of an Aboriginal population as it absorbed and accommodated the effects of intrusive social policies. At one level, Indigenous and Other Australians since 1901 provides a coherent account of the origins, implications, and outcomes of Aboriginal policy formation since Federation, ranging deftly across state and territory jurisdictions, decade by decade.' (Introduction)
