The passing of the aborigines
Book • 1938
Daisy Bates's 'The Passing of the Aborigines' (1939) collects her accounts and commentary from decades living among Indigenous Australian communities, framing their cultures as doomed to disappearance.
The book mixes ethnographic notes, anecdotes, and Bates's interpretations, reflecting both detailed observations and pervasive colonial attitudes of the era.
It was influential in shaping public perceptions about Indigenous Australians but has been widely criticized for paternalism, sensational claims (including unsubstantiated accounts of cannibalism), and erasing Indigenous agency.
Contemporary scholars use it cautiously as a historical source while critiquing its methods and ideological framing.
The work remains significant for understanding how colonial-era narratives contributed to harmful policies and public discourse about Indigenous peoples.
The book mixes ethnographic notes, anecdotes, and Bates's interpretations, reflecting both detailed observations and pervasive colonial attitudes of the era.
It was influential in shaping public perceptions about Indigenous Australians but has been widely criticized for paternalism, sensational claims (including unsubstantiated accounts of cannibalism), and erasing Indigenous agency.
Contemporary scholars use it cautiously as a historical source while critiquing its methods and ideological framing.
The work remains significant for understanding how colonial-era narratives contributed to harmful policies and public discourse about Indigenous peoples.
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Lauren Gawne
Daisy Bates with Lingthusiasm
