ABSTRACT
There was an idealistic zeal among the new state officials of the 1970s who saw themselves as the antithesis of racist whites. Finally the conceptual and behavioural technique of separating private from public matters operated to disallow many Rembarrnga attempts to take control of their own domain. It was in meetings that the goal of consultation was to be realised, but always imperfectly. Finally, while the demarcation of public, community concerns from personal private ones is arbitrary, and culturally specific, this does not mean it is superficial or easily modified. Rembarrnga shamelessness astonished, angered and embarrassed some of their supporters, who found it increasingly hard to maintain the smiling altruism of the dedicated anti-racist public servant when meeting with the black communities in the outback. The search for the viable enterprise at Bulman was interrupted when funds for Gulperan dried up soon after the white manager's substantial house had been built at the planned new site at Gulin Gulin.
