Australian Aboriginal Women’s Control of Mineral Resources

Abstract

The extent of mining by Aboriginal women has been underestimated. Roles within traditional mining were often determined along gender lines but women’s labour and skills were essential. In post-contact Australia, women continued to mine for the world economy, particularly in the early frontier period and for longer in isolated mining fields. In some cases traditional female knowledge and skills were applied in new ways to mining. The work did not suit European ideals of femininity which were being imposed on them through legislation and government policy. Despite this, they were more likely to continue mining than White women. Mining could also give the women some autonomy, allowing them to resist the controls of the ‘protection’ acts that governed Aboriginal lives from the late nineteenth century. These controls were predicated on a relationship of employer and employee, which did not fit independent production such as small-scale mining.