January 23.
“Australia Day” by Glenn Loughrey
William Cooper’s action
William Cooper [ d.1941] was tireless in his efforts to bring to the attention of white Australians and governments, both federal and state, the need for recognition of the rights of Indigenous people in Australia. What follows is an account of one such action.
The main item of [William] Cooper's strategy was to organise a petition to King George V, calling on him to intervene to prevent the extinction of the Aboriginal race and to grant Aborigines representation in federal parliament. A well-drafted petition was widely circulated in most parts of Australia, despite considerable government opposition. It had 2 000 Aboriginal signatures by early 1935.
Cooper planned to have Australia-wide representation in a large Aboriginal delegation to federal parliament in 1935 but, due to lack of finance and obstructive tactics by State governments, he had to be satisfied with a small group from Victoria and NSW. They met Thomas Paterson, Minister for the Interior. It was a very dignified, elderly, white-haired Cooper who was the patriarch of the delegation, while Shadrach James, with his...gifts of oratory, did most of the talking. Their strongest argument was that they were British subjects, but denied equality with white Australians. James said to the minister:
This deputation has the honour to represent the Aboriginal population of Australia. We, on behalf of the descendants of the Aborigines, naturally are greatly concerned in everything affecting our people. We consider that it is one of the most pressing problems of the day, yet it does not seem to seriously trouble the mind of the government. Therefore, on behalf of the Aboriginal population of Australia, we appeal for a constructive policy with better conditions than those existing and under which our people have to live. We respectfully remind the government that a strict injunction to the effect 'that the Aborigines and their descendants should be properly cared for' was included in the Commission issued to those who came overseas to Australia, and we trust the present government will take every lawful means to extend the protection to the native population, who are His Majesty's subjects... The Aborigines...are to be considered as much under safeguard of the law as white people under the British flag. Believing the British Empire to stand for justice, order, freedom and good government... [1]
They asked for Aboriginal representation in State and federal parliaments, a federal Department of Native Affairs, and State councils consisting of 'a social anthropologist, medical and educational advisors, a representative of the Aboriginal race, and at least one woman'. [2] These matters were discussed at the next Premiers' Conference but in the end, nothing came of it. [3]
Department of the Interior, Correspondence files, 'Welfare of Aboriginals in the Northern Territory: Deputation to Minister, 23 January 1935, CRS A1, 35/3951, AA.
Ibid.
M. A. Franklin, Black and White Australians, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1976: 106
Acknowledgment: John Harris, One Blood, pp. 620-621, 682 n.42, n.43, n.44.