Citizens without Rights
Citizens without Rights
This is the first comprehensive study of the ways in which Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have been excluded from the rights of Australian citizenship over the past 100 years. Drawing extensively upon archival material, the authors look at how the colonies initiated a policy of exclusion that was then replicated by the Commonwealth and State governments following federation. The book includes careful examination of government policies and practice from the 1880s to the 1990s and argues that Aboriginal people have been central to notions of Australian citizenship by virtue of their exclusion from it. It overturns many assumptions and misunderstandings, arguing that there was never any constitutional reason why Aborigines could not be granted full citizenship. The authors show that citizenship was an empty term used to discriminate systematically against Aboriginal people.
- This is the first comprehensive examination of the topic
- Draws on rich original archival material
- HIghly topical with centenary of constitution, prominence of debates about Aboriginal citizenship
Reviews & endorsements
"The authors offer an in-depth perpsective that frames the contemporary debate about moving beyond civil to indigenous rights, and about the conditions for reconciliation more generally. Upper-division undergraduates and above." Choice
"...those who do not know or need to be reminded why the makers of the constitution inserted the so-called "discriminatory" clauses will find the authors' lucid account invaluable." American Historical Review
"This is a well-researched, well-written and well-argued book. It should be essential reading for anyone trying to come seriously to grips with Australia's past and present policies towards Aborigines. It should also be essential reading for anyone interested more generally in debates about Australian citizenship." Will Sanders, Pacific Affairs
Product details
January 1998Paperback
9780521597517
288 pages
229 × 152 × 16 mm
0.43kg
15 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The citzenship divide in colonial Victoria
- 2. Under the law: Aborigines and islanders in colonial Queensland
- 3. Is the constitution to blame?
- 4. The Commonwealth defines the Australian citizen with Tom Clarke
- 5. The states confine the Aboriginal non-citizen
- 6. The slow path to civil rights
- 7. From civil to indigenous rights.
