RETTA DIXON VIOLENCE CONDONED BY FORMER GOVENOR GENERAL HASLUCK: ... Based on previously unpublished documents in the National Archives, Fairfax Media can reveal that in the late 1950s, when a reforming senior Darwin official sought to forbid this corporal punishment of Aboriginal children in Retta Dixon home, the former governor-general, Paul Hasluck, as Minister for Territories in the late 1950s, overruled him and ensured the missionaries could continue such practices. .... Hasluck came from a strict Salvation Army background. He did not share the apartheid attitudes of many Australians and had written extensively on Aborigines. Yet, he was a firm assimilationist. He agreed with the societys complaints against Giese, whose stand he described as rather far-fetched and unreal, according to documents in the National Archive. He wrote: I cannot understand how discipline can be maintained in all circumstances without some corporal punishment. Hasluck overruled Giese and gained cabinet agreement to support the charities and allow them to decide on how policies were implemented, thereby laying the foundation for the abuse that the Royal Commission is now examining.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 00:07:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015