TURN THIS WATER INTO WINE.

ABORIGINAL Australians -- History; RACE relations in Australia; MISSIONS to Aboriginal Australians; GOVERNMENT relations with Aboriginal Australians; MISSIONARIES; POLITICIAN attitudes; ELKIN, A. P. (Adolphus Peter), 1891-1979; ABORIGINAL Australian religion; ANTHROPOLOGISTS; ANTHROPOLOGY; ASSIMILATION (Sociology); ATTITUDE (Psychology); HISTORY

Since the continent of the Australian Aborigines was colonised, most commentary on the ‘natives’ was in terms of being child-like and that the state of being of the native personified the basic elements of nature. Over the twentieth century—while attempting simultaneously to preserve and extinguish the ‘tangible form’ and the ‘true nature’ of the Aborigine—much effort was directed towards biologically and socially transmuting the substance of the native into a mimicry of whiteness through the application of science and the employment of Christianity. The following is an explanatory treatise discussing a noteworthy grouping of interactions between a number of bureaucrats, politicians, missionaries and anthropologists who—although dedicated to constructing a new (white) existence for Aboriginal people—could never quite disengage from simplistic characterisations of the people for whom they were advocating. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Australian Feminist Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)