ABSTRACT
From the earliest period of contact, those seeking to absorb Aborigines into the European culture have looked to children as their best hope: it took little time to realise that adult Aborigines were not attracted to most aspects of European civilisation. In the inter-war period the forcible removal of children was regarded as a matter of course and did not provoke controversy in the world of white Australians. The Commonwealth government took pride in the policy ‘to collect all half-castes from the native camps at an early age. The experience of the Chief Protector of Aborigines is that mixed marriages are often not a success and separations are frequent, especially as these persons with aboriginal blood almost invariably mate with the lowest class of whites, and, in many cases, the girls become prostitutes. Aborigines were not permitted to enter the reserve set aside for the children’s home; it was the fixed policy of the Government to segregate half-castes from aboriginals.
