Stanley Middleton’s response to assimilation policy in his fight for Aboriginal people’s equality, 1948–62

Abstract

From earliest childhood until I left home at the age of seventeen I heard so frequently the story of my birth and the role played by the kindly aborigines that it requires no effort even now to recount word for word as told to me by my mother. It never failed to stir me emotionally and the telling does to this day. I often considered in those early days, if ever and how I might be able to repay in some measure the kindness of these gentle people. Eventually that opportunity did come to me, not in my home state but on the opposite side of the continent. When I was placed in charge of the Native Affairs department in Western Australia I perceived the opportunity to contribute something towards their welfare and took as much advantage of it as the limits of Government policy, politics, money and public attitudes would permit. I know I succeeded up to a point but wish I could have done more. I - we - owe it to them.