Pandora's Box: The Council for Aboriginal Affairs 1967-1976Today, little is known aboiut the history of the Development of Aboriginal Affairs. Pandora's Box, as the title suggests, blows this history open with an insider's account of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs. Established as the Federal Government's response to the overwhelming success of the 1967 Consitutional Referendum, the Council for Aboriginal Affairs was the Holt Government's attempt to address the dire effects of colonisation on Aboriginal people. The Council, made up of Executive members H.C. "Nugget" Coombs, Professor W.E.H. Stanner and the author, Barrie Dexter, was in operation from the period of Prime Minister Harold Holt until it was eventually disbanded under the Fraser Government, yet it was in the Whilam period that created its greatest legacy. Pandora's Box tells the story of this legacy, the battle by the Council for Aboriginal Affairs to create a more just society for all Australia. It is a must read for any academic, policy maker or advisor in the field of Aboriginal affairs, and for at matter, for all advocates of justice and truth in Australia today. |
