ABSTRACT
This chapter traces some of the techniques of governance and the themes of civility which they expressed, as they were re/formed and adapted for local conditions in the Territory. It is now well known that there was coercion, persecution and exploitation of Aboriginal people on many pastoral stations, conditions which have often been understood simply in terms of economic rationality or economic necessity. The men and women who became ‘aboriginal employees’ had not previously used personal names as markers of identity. Pastoralism was a brave, dangerous and new adventure for many of the Europeans involved and they were remaking themselves as well as remaking the world about them. The scientific study being pursued by anthropologists rose above the pragmatic needs of the pastoral industry because it contributed to the higher purpose of civilisation's authoritative knowledge of the primitive. Aborigines increasingly represented a difficult otherness to be altered as the civilising mission advanced.
