What was Australia's assimilation policy?

Australia's assimilation policy operated from about 1937 to 1969 as the official approach of federal, state, and territory governments to Aboriginal Australians. The policy aimed to absorb Aboriginal people into white Australian society by eliminating distinct Aboriginal communities, languages, cultures, and identity, replacing them with European Australian patterns of life.

The policy was formally adopted at the 1937 Aboriginal Welfare Conference of Commonwealth and State authorities, with the Native Welfare Conference of 1951 confirming and extending the approach. The 1951 definition was that 'all Aborigines and part-Aborigines are expected eventually to attain the same manner of living as other Australians and to live as members of a single Australian community enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the same responsibilities, observing the same customs and influenced by the same beliefs, hopes and loyalties as other Australians'.

The policy operated through several specific mechanisms. The Stolen Generations: between 1910 and 1970, federal and state authorities removed about one in three Aboriginal children from their families and placed them in missions, institutions, or non-Aboriginal foster families. The 1997 Bringing Them Home report documented these removals and their devastating impacts. Wage controls: Aboriginal workers had wages withheld or paid into trust funds that they often never accessed (the stolen wages campaigns of the 2000s and 2010s sought partial compensation). Movement controls: Aboriginal people in many areas required permission to leave reserves or missions.

The policy was officially replaced by self-determination from the late 1960s and early 1970s. The 1967 referendum, carried with 90.77 per cent Yes, allowed Aboriginal people to be counted in the census and gave the federal Parliament power to make laws specifically for them. Prime Minister Harold Holt appointed the Council for Aboriginal Affairs in 1968 to advise on policy. The Whitlam Labor government from 1972 formalised the shift to self-determination, with the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (passed under Fraser) creating statutory land rights. The Bringing Them Home report of 1997 and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's National Apology to the Stolen Generations on 13 February 2008 formally acknowledged the harm caused by assimilation. The policy's legacy continues to shape Aboriginal life through intergenerational trauma, loss of language and culture, and the ongoing work of reconciliation.