ABSTRACT
In the inter-war period a large number of groups with white membership sought to promote what they saw as the welfare of Aborigines. The Aborigines Protection League of South Australia was the first of a spate of new organisations. In addition to groups formed with a specific interest in Aborigines, a number of religious, welfare and political organisations included Aboriginal affairs within their range of concerns. Most organisations concerned with Aboriginal issues approached the government in a deferential manner and concurred in the view that Aborigines were a people of limited capacity, not to be put on a level of equality with the whites. The petition presented to federal Parliament in 1927 stressed that Aborigines in the model state would be granted self-government at some unspecified time in the future and that ‘cannibalism and cruel rites’ would be halted. Genders believed a special effort should be made to educate Aborigines, who could then return to assist their people.
