'In this project two groups of aboriginal families are cornpared. One group of aboriginal families consists of families where the members were born and brought up in Cherbourg Settlement. The other group consists of aboriginal families born and brought up in Dunwich on Stradbroke Island.
'Aboriginal families living in Cherbourg are subject to the Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Act. In March 1965 this Act was slightly changed and made a bit more liberal. On Stradbroke Island the Aboriginal families have never been subjected to this Act.
'Writer interviewed ten families of which at least one member is of Aboriginal descent and born and brought up in Cherbourg and now residing in Brisbane. She also interviewed another group of ten families of which at least one member of the family was born and brought up in Dunwich on Stradbroke Island and now residing in Brisbane. Writer wanted to investigate the way the Act had effected these Cherbourg families and to what extent and in what ways these families would differ from the Dunwich people who never have been subjected to the Act.
'Writer realises that these two groups are too small to make statistical inferences. Nonetheless useful generalizations can be obtained by the comparison of the two groups. Writer did not have the opportunity to work with bigger samples as firstly, she lacked the time to work on bigger samples, and secondly, for the simple reason, that the writer could not find many more Dunwich families who are at present living in the Brisbane area. If there are more, then writer has not been able to find out who they are and where they are living. Lower income families, such as widows, separated or deserted wifes, were excluded as writer preferred to apply the survey on families where wife as well as husband were present. Also single people were excluded. (Publication abstract)
