Abstract
In 1955, the newly elected Victorian Premier, Henry BoIte, appointed retired stipendiary magistrate, Charles McLean, to conduct an inquiry into the operation of Victoria's Aborigines Act 1928. The Liberal government expected McLean's findings to reflect the assimilationist trend which was being advocated by other Australian States and Territories. Subsequently, the inquiry's five terms of reference ensured that McLean broadened Victoria's definition of Aboriginality to include large numbers of 'mixed descent' Aboriginal people, and that he formulated methods by which Aboriginal people could be assimilated into Anglo-Australian society. In general, government directives controlled the scope of the McLean Inquiry and meant that in many respects McLean served as a puppet for the Victorian government. However, the manner in which McLean sometimes deviated from these directives indicates that he was not merely a government mouthpiece.
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