Assimilation

Successive Australian governments tried to 'assimilate' indigenous Australians. There were two phases to this strategy, which was designed to destroy aboriginal identity and absorb indigenous people into the mainstream of white society.

In the first instance, aborigines viewed as 'half castes', or people of mixed blood, were to interbreed only with white people. The argument went that, after a few generations, their descendants would bear no trace of their ancestry.

The second phase of assimilation was training. It was believed that aboriginal people could be taught to live like whites, qualify for full citizenship rights, and forget their aboriginality.

Assimilation allowed no future for reserves and it was thought these last remnants of aboriginal land could soon be phased out.