Aboriginal Autonomy

Issues and Strategies

Herbert Cole Coombs

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 1995
• Print ISBN: 9780521446372
• eBook ISBN: 9781139238434
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

After more than two hundred years, one of the most important moral issues facing Australian society in the 1990s remains the need for reconciliation with its indigenous people. In this selection of essays, H. C. Coombs reflects on the nature of Aboriginal identity and the importance of autonomy for Australia's Aboriginal people. He also suggests strategies by which self-determination might be achieved in practice. Many of the chapters have been written especially for this volume - including one in which Dr Coombs makes a thoughtful and provocative contribution to the Mabo debate, linking the High Court's historic 1992 decision on native title to prospects for Aboriginal autonomy. Dr Coombs writes with the conviction that 'mainstream' Australia stands to gain as much, if not more, than Aboriginal people from the fulfilment of Aboriginal aspirations. It is a personal and passionate plea for a just society, from one of white Australia's most influential and eloquent advocates of self-determination for its indigenous people.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Michael Dodson
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• The Aboriginal World View
• Aborigines and the Land
• Aboriginal Lifestyles
• Aborigines, Resources and Development
• Aborigines, Law and the State
• Asserting Autonomy: Recent Aboriginal Initiatives
• The Recognition of Native Title
• Conclusion
• Appendix: The Eva Valley Statement
• References
• Select Bibliography of work by H.C. Coombs
• Index