A.O. Neville
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| “ | Are we going to have a population of one million blacks in the Commonwealth or are we going to merge them into our white community and eventually forget that there were ever any aborigines in Australia? | „ |
| ~ A.O. Neville |
Auber Octavius Neville (November 20, 1875 - April 18, 1954) was an English born Australian public servant who served as Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia from 1915 to 1940.
He was responsible for the removal of thousands of "half-caste" children from their aboriginal families to assimilate them into white culture and to "breed out the color".
Biography edit
Neville was born on November 20th, 1875 in Ford, Northumberland, England and emigrated to Victoria, Australia.
In 1897, Neville moved to Western Australia and joined the public service. In 1906, he became an immigration officer and was appointed head of the new sub-department of tourism and immigration in 1910. He was thus closely involved in the selecting and processing of some 40,000 British immigrants to Western Australia for four years. On June 1st, 1910, in London he married Maryan Florence Low; they had three daughters and two sons. In 1914, Neville became secretary of the Patriotic Relief Fund, and continued as chairman of its permanent relief committee.
In 1915, Neville was appointed Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia and presided over the policy of the removal of "half-caste" children from their aboriginal families and sent to internment camps to be assimilated into western culture, such as the Moore River Native Settlement. This policy of forced assimilation would later be known as the Stolen Generations. The aim was to enforce blood quantum laws to permanently segregate full-blooded aborigines, as it was widely believed that the aboriginal race was dying out, and have the Stolen Generations marry people with lighter skin tones over successive generations until there were no more aborigines in Australia.
Some argued that Neville's role as Chief Protector only increased the aborigines' suffering and Neville stated that the aborigines need to be "forgotten". The children at the camps would be trained to work as farmers and domestic servants and Neville believed that biological absorption was the key to 'uplifting the Native race.' Speaking at the Moseley Royal Commission, he defended the removal and assimilation policies, arguing that they need to be "protected against themselves" even against their will.
After Neville's retirement in 1940, Neville published a book in 1947 called Australia's Colored Minority. While the book defended his policies, it also acknowledged the harm the aborigines had to endure thanks to European intervention.
In 1954, Neville died and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth.
Trivia edit
- Many people have debated that Neville's racist actions to assimilate the Stolen Generations into white culture in order to "breed out the color" was an act of cultural genocide, as the act of forcibly transferring children of an ethnic group to another group qualifies as genocide.
- His actions are considered to be particular of the Indigenous Australian Genocide that began during the Australian Frontier Wars.
- Neville's racial views to "breed out the color" of the Stolen Generations so the aboriginal race would be "forgotten" have been compared to the racial views of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
- His assimilation policies on Indigenous Australians bear many similarities to Richard Pratt's ideologies to "kill the Indian and save the man" in regards to Native Americans.
- Some people have argued that Neville was just a misguided figure and wasn't intentionally evil, as he was trying to improve the lives of the Stolen Generations. However, the program wasn't concerned with the interests of the children, as it was focused more on biologically absorbing them into the white population until there were no traces of aboriginal ancestry.
Portrayals edit
- Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), played by Kenneth Branagh.
- No Sugar, 1985 play by Jack Davis.