Author Description

Examines the institution of rationing in Central Australia and its relation to protectionism, assimilation and the construction of accounts of Aboriginal agency; critique of rationing as a technique of behavioural change; argues that there was little reason to assume that rationing could serve an assimilationary role; close reading of the understanding of rationing as described by Spencer and Stirling - Horn Expedition; examines the relation between rationing and the production of knowledge of Aboriginal agency; rationing and its relation to concepts of pauperism, poverty, reciprocity, nurturance, parasitism - Elkin, Hamilton and Myers; 1930 census data from the NT - Barrow Creek, Arltunga, Charlotte Waters; the basis of interdependence and frontier violence; techniques of regulation and supervision in Alice Springs - education (the Bungalow), town camps, work and wages, segregation; contrast with Hermannsburg; effects of World War II - Areyonga and Haasts Bluff ration depots; Assimilation as a national policy - its relation to rationing practice; transition to a cash economy; effects on family structure; equal wage case - role of stations and pastoralism in the management of consumption; welfare distribution and unemployment; the function of settlements - Jay Creek, Haasts Bluff, Areyonga, Yuendumu and Hooker Creek and the persistence of the Indigenous domain; effects of communal feeding on child rearing and the family; social and economic impacts if the failure of assimilation: housing and the development of town camps - Morris Soak, Ammonguna; meaning and interpretation of policy change - self determination, land rights; problem of emerging Indigenous plurality and government processes - role of community and household - Tangentyere Council; beliefs, attitudes and stereotypes about Aborigines; government policy and administration.