Black, White and Exempt: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives under exemption
Aboriginal Studies Press, $39.95 pb, 224 pp
‘I intend to do for myself’
In the process of British colonisation, Aboriginal people lost their country, kin, culture, and languages. They also lost their freedom. Governed after 1901 by different state and territory laws, Aboriginal peoples were subject to the direction of Chief Protectors and Protection Boards, and were told where they could live, travel, and seek employment, and whom they might marry. They were also subject to the forced removal of their children by state authorities. Exemption certificates promised family safety, dignity, a choice of work, a passport to travel, and freedom. Too often, in practice, exemption also meant enhanced surveillance, family breakup, and new forms of racial discrimination and social segregation.
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Black, White and Exempt: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives under exemption
edited by Lucinda Aberdeen and Jennifer Jones
Aboriginal Studies Press, $39.95 pb, 224 pp
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