Cecil Cook and the Remote Aborigines
Peter Ryan’s contribution in Quadrant, May 2013, “Aboriginal Questions”, is typically interesting and astute. He refers to Nicolas Rothwell’s suggestion (Australian, March 23) that the education and other standards of remote region Aborigines should be reported separately from all other Aborigines. Different policies, Rothwell suggests, are needed for remote-region Aborigines, whose standards are falling, whereas the majority of other Aborigines are doing much better.
Ryan refers to the observations of West Australian Aborigines by Paul Hasluck in the 1930s. When appointed Minister for Territories in 1951, Hasluck became responsible for the Commonwealth’s role to improve Aboriginal welfare in the Northern Territory.
Many policy proposals to improve Aboriginal health and welfare were prepared in the 1930s but most were not implemented because of the Commonwealth government’s limited funds and other, more pressing priorities. Arguably, these 1930s proposals are still relevant to…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins