ABSTRACT
This chapter engages with the idea that these two positions may overlap rather than simply oppose each other, and that the interesting and important conceptual problem is precisely the conditions under which violations of trust can take place within rather than in contrast to the pursuit of 'welfare'. This is a particularly important issue for liberal modes of governance, given the claim to be able to contain the authoritarian dimensions of state action and protect individual liberties. A key feature of the history of the policies and practices relating to the stolen generations which the chapter focuses on here is the role of the concept of 'civilisation', as a foundation for both the policies of Indigenous child removal and their subsequent critiques. The chapter outlines the ways in which the history of Aboriginal child removal illuminates the peculiarities of liberal governance and trust under settler-colonialism.
