Geoforum, Vol 14. No. 3, pp 32.5-332. I%3 Printed in Great Britain.

0016-718x33 %3.Hl+O.w Pergamo” Press Ltd.

Sociospatial Aspects of Australian Aboriginal Underdevelopment. Empirical

Evidence from the East Kimberley

HELEN ROSS,* London U.K. and DAVID DRAKAKIS-SMITH,~ Keeie, U.K.

Abstract: Prior to the penetration of the European capitalist economy into central and northern Australia, the Aboriginal mode of production was one of hunting and gathering. Spiritual, economic and social relationships betwen people and land produced a spatial distribution of small bands of people living on their traditional lands. To the incoming white settlers the low popuIation density and type of land use appeared uneconomic. This observation was used as ideological justification for the expropriation and development of the land for commercial pastoralism. This paper discusses the articulation of the Aboriginal and European modes of produc- tion in the East Kimberley region of northwest Australia. It argues that the introduced capitalist economy virtually destroyed the Aboriginal means of subsist- ence, incorporating Aborigines into the new mode of production within various subordinate roles. The exploitation of Aborigines, formerly as labour and now predominantely as consumers, is fundamental to the maintenance of the capitalist mode of production in pastoral areas. The spatial effects of the dominant mode of production have been to centralise Aborigines in locations suited to the various phases of development of the European economy, undermining the traditional Aboriginal social-spatial structure. The centralisation of the Aboriginal population also enhances the opportunities for the further development of the mining industry, which is in direct competition with Aboriginal interests in land. Aboriginal resist- ance to these spatial tendencies is intense in many quarters, but efforts to return to living on traditional lands and to develop alternative ways of living are hampered by the dominant mode of production.

Introduction

Descriptive accounts of the symptoms of Aboriginal underdevelopment abound. They can be found in depressingly similar profiles of their poverty, living conditions, health, education or employment [for some comprehensive accounts see ALTMAN and NIEUWENHUYSEN (1979), WORLD COUN- CIL OF CHURCHES (1981) and SUTER and STEARMAN (1982)]. In many instances such

*c/o Department of Aboriginal Affairs. P.O. Box 17. Woden, A.C.T. 2606, Australia. tDepartment of Geography.Wniversity of Keele, Keeie. Staffordshire ST5 5BG, U.K.

reports are usually left to speak for themselves as examples of injustice and racism; some point out, correctly, that government attempts to counter these conditions over the last 15 yr have resulted in massive welfare expenditure with modest effects.

However, apart from the question-begging culture of poverty framework of investigators such as DAGMAR (1978), KAMIEN (1978) and ROW- LEY (1978), analytical approaches have seldom been employed to try to explain the evolution and persistence of Aboriginal underdevelopment or to establish a sounder base for attitudinal or policy reform. Indeed, popular white Australian lore places the blame for underdevelopment squarely on

325

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the Aborigines themselves, portraying them as lazy and undeserving of better conditions.

In the broader context of underdevelopment. the last decade has witnessed the problems of minority groups receiving increased attention from social and political scientists anxious to translate and incorpor- ate the burgeoning theories of development into empirical studies. Some, such as FRANK (1980) and BRADBY (197.5). refer only sparingly to empirical work, preferring to concentrate on structuring a sound theoretical position. But the growing call for deeper consideration of the nature of dependent social formations and their impact on the development process (FORBES, 1981) has directed the attention of a growing number of inves- tigators towards praxis as well as theory.

The great majority of these investigations have mode-of-production analysis at their heart. This is premised on the assumption that in any social form- ation one or more modes of production may coexist; within studies of underdevelopment it is the articu- lation of the pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production that forms the focus of attention (PEET. 1980). MABOGUNJE (1980) has described a mode of production as “those elements. activities and

social relationships which are necessary to produce and reproduce real (material) life”. As a non- Marxist, Mabogunje places more emphasis on the cultural factors involved in articulati~~n and, as interest in mode of production analysis has spread, an increasing number of empirically based studies are emphasising the superstructural mechanisms of

exploitation.

This tendency has been particularly true within the theory of internal colonialism, one approach which has validity for underdevelopment in both the core and peripheral nations. Not all of the internal colo- nial investigations of the last two decades [see S. W. WILLIAMS (1983) for a summary of these] have

occurred within a framework of mode-of- production analysis, a position which has seriously weakened their theoretical base (G. WILLIAMS, 1983). Indeed, much of the research has been of a spatially descriptive nature rather than an analysis of process - ethnoreg~onalism rather than internal colonialism (HECHTER and LEVI, 1979).

However, the theory of internal colonialism does appear to have considerable relevance in many countries, particularly those within what is some- times referred to as the semi-periphery, and it has

GeoforumiVolume 14/l\lumber 311983

been possible in recent years to identify some com- mon denominators in the various interpretations it has stimulated (DRAKAKIS-SMITHY and WIL- LIAMS, 1983).

In the context of Australia, one of the semi- peripheral states, Aboriginal underdevelopment has received increasing attention from a theoretical perspective since the mid-1970s (WOLPE, 1975: HARTWIG, 1978; COOPER, 1980; DRAKAKIS- SMITH, 1980, 1981, 1983). This paper represents an attempt to reapply one of these analyses, that of internal colonialism in central Australia, in another empirical situation.

In an earlier investigation DRAKAKIS-SMITH (1983, p. 58) defined internal colonialism as “the process of conservation as applied to the articu- lation of capitalist and pre-capitalist modes of pro- duction (within a singIe state)“. One of the impor- tant aspects of this analysis was that it clearly indic- ated that internal colonialism need not be restricted to articulation within production but is also evident in the area of collective consumption. Moreover, the nature of internal colonialism, as suggested by FORBES and THRIFT (1981), can be demon- strated to change through time.

This paper seeks to extend this submodal analysis of internal colonialism to the East Kimberley, another region within Aboriginal Australia [for a definition of Aboriginal Australia see DRAKAK~S-SMITH and HIRST (1981)]. In this district Aborigines com- prise more than 80% of the population, but their overall participation in economic activities appears small and their position disadvantaged. A closer examination reveals that the economy of the region

is even more dependent on the Aboriginal presence than in Alice Springs (Figure 1).

The Aboriginal IVlode of Production

Prior to the arrival of white Australians in north and central Australia, the Aboriginal mode of produc- tion was based on hunting and gathering. Religious norms defined a sociospatial organisation which gave each individuai affiliations to one or more areas of land according to his descent and the pre- sumed place of his conception or birth. He was deemed to ‘belong to’ his land, a concept which is the converse of our notion of land ownership, and had religious responsibilities towards it. He had

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State Aborlglnal populations

WALES

The proportron of Aboqnes in various

settlement categories

0 IOW Km

Figure 1. Aboriginal Australia.

rights to hunt and gather on his land, and on the land of relations and neighbours with their consent.

The social organisation was one in which small rel- ated groups, numbering perhaps 15-40 people, travelled within the territories of their members, meeting with other groups at certain times for large social and ceremonial gatherings. In economic activity some specialisation of labour took place according to sex and age roles. Women provided a consistent diet of gathered vegetables, fruit, grubs, smaller animals, shellfish and fish, whereas mens’ hunting of larger game provided a favoured but less predictable part of the diet. Modest dwellings were constructed as required, and then abandoned. These were made of materials which were available on site and needed very few hours of labour. Material acquisition was restricted to items which were useful and could be carried, mainly food-

gathering equipment such as digging sticks, coola- mom, spears and spear throwers. Material goods had very low priority in comparison to spiritual and social values.

According to this mode of production, land was the basis of economic, social and spiritual activity. The population was fairly evenly distributed throughout the continent, although richer coastal and river areas were able to sustain higher concentrations of population. There were no permanent settlements, though members of local groups clustered in good times and dispersed in bad times (STANNER, 1965). Interference with the relationships to land, on which the mode of production was founded, rendered the Aboriginal population particularly vulnerable to the capitalist economy, which also relied on land for its pastoral and mining activities.

32x

Transformations in the Aboriginal Mode of Production

White expforers entered the East Kimberley in 1878, and by 1883 over 51 million acres had been taken up on lease by absent interests mainly from the eastern states (BOLTON, 1953). The first cat- tlemen arrived in 1882 and 1883. first settling land and then returning the following year with their herds. The Halls Creek gold field was discovered in 1885, preempting a sudden rush which was over by 1889. However, it left behind a population of about 300, the township of Old Halls Creek. the port of Wyndham and a road between them (BAITYE. 1978). The miners provided a market for cattle.

supplementing the less accessible markets in the south and east (Figure 1).

Around 18#7 open conflict broke out between the aborigines and the white settlers. Cattle had vir- tually replaced the native game, which had been driven out by the crushing of vegetation and destruction of waterholes by large herds of domesticated animals. A dry year in 188X exacerb- ated the problems. In retaliation. Aborigines hunted cattle, drove them away from waterholes and chased them. ruining their condition and breed- ing capacity. Aborigines were unfairly blamed for all stock losses, although police enquiries found that the majority of losses were attributable to lack of supervision, lack of fencing, disease. wild dogs and other natural causes (CHILL, 1977). Aboriginal attacks on the Halls Creek-Wyndham telegraph line became severe around 1888 and persisted until 1891. and in the first 25 yr of white settlements in the area a few settiers were killed by Aborigines. In contrast. the punitive raids led by settlers, not necessarily against the groups responsible, were merciless, resulting in a number of massacres and a large public hanging at Mount Dockerell in 1892.

During the period of competition over land. some Aborigines were induced to settle around the new station homesteads. The motivation on the part of the settlers seems to have been partly to prevent stock losses and partly to acquire a labour force. In 1896 Flora Valley station reduced its incidence of cattle killing by persuading Aboriginal people to form a camp near the homestead in return for receiving free meat. This arrangement was con-

GeoforumNolume Id/Number 3/1983

ditional on their refraining from molesting stock (BOLTON, 1953). Ord River and other stations followed suit. although with an extent of coercion. In 1908 the government asked all stations whether they were prepared to kill enough beef to satisfy the needs of Aborigines in the adjacent country. and whether they would require compensation for so doing. Older Aboriginal people tell of the methods used to bring them to the stations and to make them work. Some were captured. and recaptured if they tried to escape. Methods of coercion included chaining by the neck, threatened or actual shooting and withdrawal of rations. Some were employed, in return for rations rather than wages. In the early years the numbers employed varied. some stations being reluctant to use Aboriginal labour after the killing of Durack in 1901. Until 1905 the numbers ‘sitting down’ on stations were in a minority. Women were employed around the homesteads as domestics, dairymaids and w~isherw(~n~ell. whilst men were engaged primarily in stock work.

In 1908 the state government founded Moola Bulla station, followed by Violet Valley. These stations were created specifically to draw Aborigines away from surrounding areas with the inducement of rations, in the hope of limiting stock losses and threats to white settlers. Some stations preferred to keep their own camps from which labour could be drawn. Moola Bulla was later used as a punishment centre and as a receiving and training centrc for half-caste children.

By 1923 most aborigines had ‘sat down’ at a station or government depot. World War I depleted the white labour force. increasing stations’ reliance on Aboriginal labour and the concern for its reproduc- tion. Station owners and managers denied that Aborigines constituted a cheap labour force, argu- ing that there was a high cost in supplying food. clothes and tobacco, and in keeping the relatives of the workers. Aborigines maintained that the rations were inadequate. and that they were obliged to supplement their diet with hunting.

Within 30 yr of the arrival of white settlers in the East Kimberley, the Aboriginal mode of production had been partially transformed by the expropriation of land, the replacement of the main mode of sub- sistence and the spatial concentration of Aborigines around station homesteads. By conserving the pre- capitalist mode of production, by and large, and its selective incorporation into the capitalist mode of production, the pastoral industry was able to benefit

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from the use of labour without having to meet the full cost of its reproduction. Aborigines were barely

incorporated into the social and economic rela- tionships of the introduced mode of production, retaining their own social and religious organisation and partially continuing their own economic ac- tivities. This situation persisted until a new phase of transformation began in the late 1960s.

Phase 3: consumer role

Although many Aborigines still live on pastoral sta-

tions in certain areas, a phase of displacement from the stations began in the late 1960s. In 1968 compul- sory award wages were introduced on cattle sta- tions. Hitherto Aborigines had been paid only in rations, or since 1950 at rates well below those paid to white workers (ALTMAN and NIEU- WENHUYSEN, 1979). A wave of Aboriginal expulsions and walk-offs from stations were popu- larly attributed to the introduction of award wages, many stations claiming they they could no longer afford to keep Aboriginal labour. The position was complicated by changes in the structure of the pas- toral industry, with increases in capitalisation and expansion of corporate rather than family owner- ship, fluctuations in demand for beef and changing Aboriginal attitudes to their conditions of employ- ment (ALTMAN and NIEUWENHUYSEN, 1979). A large number of the so-called walk-offs of Aborigines from stations were disguised strikes over pay and conditions. Many Aborigines were also expelled from stations over conflicts with manage- ment or as a result of changes in management. For example, at Gordon Downs station, which until 1980 was managed by Vesteys, a succession of small groups were expelled upon complaining of their treatment. When the station was sold in 1980 the incoming owner expelled the remaining 80 people, many of whom were pensioners who had lived on the station all of their lives.

A few Aborigines moved to neighbouring stations, but the majority went to the fringes of towns such as Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. The whole com- munity of Noonkenbah Station went on strike in 1973 and moved to Fitzroy Crossing (Figure 1) for 3 yr until the station was bought for them by the federal government. The populations of Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing were also swelled by the sale of Moola Bulla in 1955. The people were removed to a mission at Fitzroy Crossing, but within a few years many had returned to Halls Creek,

which is on the traditional land of the Gidga people.

Further north, hundreds of people settled at the

former outpost of Turkey Creek.

In Halls Creek some of the former station people have been housed, but a great number still form their own camps or live on the reserve. Some of the young people continue as a reserve labour force for the pastoral industry, being collected to work on stations during musters but living on the goodwill of relatives and welfare payments for the rest of the year. The majority of people subsist on welfare payments, which became generally available in 1973 when the eligibility rules for unemployment benefit

were altered.

The role of the town-based Aboriginal people in the regional economy has become one of individual and collective consumption. As consumers of food and drink, and to a lesser extent of household goods, petrol and vehicles, they sustain the majority of shops in Halls Creek. As collective consumers of

health, education and welfare services, they are responsible for the generation of a large welfare industry, engaging a larger number of white special- ists and the attendant hardware of schools. hospitals and vehicles.

Halls Creek has a population of approximately 750, of whom 80% are Aboriginal. Of the identifiable jobs held by white people in the town, 47 are con- cerned with collective consumption of services, dealing primarily with the Aboriginal population. These include a school, school hostel, kindergarten, hospital, health clinic, welfare office, State Housing office, police, and two sets of missionaries. At least 17 jobs are concerned with individual consumption,

of food, alcohol, clothes and household goods. In each of these categories Aborigines account for more than 80% of the business, and there are flow- on effects to other businesses in the town, such as through petrol and the maintenance of government cars. The other jobs held by white people in the town are less easy to categorize with respect to Aboriginal consumption. In 1980 11 were con- cerned with communications, such as the Post Office, Telecom , the airport and air charter businesses; tourism and transport accounted for a further 22 positions, with 4 garages, 2 hotels and a caravan park; remaining were the Shire Council, with its 5 workers, 5 builders and electricians and a further number of people working on road mainte- nance. Calculation of the proportion of business attributable to Aboriginal services and their flow-on

33Q

effects reveals that at least one-quarter to one-third of these other jobs in Halls Creek are dependent on the presence of the Aboriginal popuIation. In total, it appears that two-thirds of the white labour force in Halls Creek is dependent for employment on the role of Aborigines as a consumer group.

The expanding consumer role of Aborigines has once again transformed the population geography of the region. The spatial concentration of Abor- igines, now around the town of Halls Creek, is maintained by the manner in which the services of collective consumption are organised. As the ser- vices have limited outreach into the surrounding areas, Aborigines must remain near the town in order to receive health care, education for their children, and to continue to receive their pension and benefit cheques. This is a major deterrent to families which have considered remaining on sta- tions or setting up new settlements on their tra- ditional lands. The white population of the area has also been altered in composition. Before the shift- ing of the Halls Creek townsite in the 1950s the majority of Aborigines lived on stations and the services provided for their collective consumption were modest. Without wages, their individua1 con- sumption needs were channelled through the sta- tions. Halls Creek was then a small communications and service centre catering to the needs of a smaller white population. In recent years the proportion of specialists, mainly recruited from the south and fulfilling short contracts, has increased dramati- cally. Transient workers from the south also occupy many of the positions in other businesses; turnover amongst the white population is high. The town’s role as an importer of white labour from the south is also boosted by the state government, and contracts being let in Perth.

The futurr

The AboriginaI mode of production still fulfils a marginal labour role, but now predominately func- tions in a consumption capacity in relation to the dominant mode of production. Although it appears that this role will continue to be the main one in the future, a number of competing tendencies are afoot. Many Aborigines, disenchanted with the disruption to their social organisation occasioned by changes in the mode of production, seek a return to their tra- ditional lands. Many have left central&d govern- ment and mission settlements in the last decade to form smaller ‘outstations’ on their traditional lands. where they live as independently as possible from

Geoforum~oiume 14~umber 311983

white influences. Many more have been prevented from moving back to their lands through being refused permission to use it. Some of the outsta- tions, and many of the people who remain on larger settlements, plan to control their own economic activities such as cattle raising and vegetable grow- ing, supplemented by income from welfare pay- ments. Prior to 1977, when the government of Western Australia clamped down on such transac- tions, a number of cattle stations were bought on behalf of Aboriginal communities by the federal government. In the Kimberley, the purchase of Noonkenbah, Billiluna and Lake Gregory stations and their transfer to Aboriginal ownership enabled three groups of Aborigines to attain ownership of their lands and to run associated economic enter- prises.

The principal opposition to Aboriginal desires to return to their land emanate from the mining and pastoral political lobbies, which fear that any form of land rights for Aborigines will threaten their own activities. Objections have been raised to excising portions of pastoral properties for Aboriginal use, and the Queensland and Western Australian gov- ernments have both blocked attempts by Abor- igines to purchase cattle stations. In the Northern Territory, legislation which permits Aborigines to lodge claims for unalienated Crown Land and land held on behalf of Aborigines has been subject to unfavourable revisions.

The government-sponsored industry of cohective consumption provides additional restraints; having achieved a spatial organisation of Aborigines which suits the distribution of welfare services, it is reluc- tant to countenance forms of decentrahsation which might threaten its own organisation. The provision of finance for outstations was retarded in the early 1970s because of government doubts that Abor- igines would stay away from the schools and hospit- als on settlements, and the health and education authorities have been tardy in devising delivery sys- tems which suit the needs of outstations. In order to find a new form of articulation between the modes of production, which will reduce their subservience or at least gain them a measure of independence, Aborigines are now seeking new economic activities and are attempting to develop their own health and education services. Aboriginal health services have been established in the metropolitan settlements of South and East Australia since 1972, but Aborigines in the northern districts have not found the financial backing to do the same. A few Aboriginal schools

GeoforumNolume 14/Number 311983 331

operate in ‘Aboriginal’ Australia, but financial sup- port is tied to official registration, which is hard to attain. Economic ventures have greater access to financial support, though some reflect attempts to conform with non-Aboriginal expectations.

Conclusion

The articulation of the Aboriginal and capitalist modes of production has passed through three phases in the East Kimberley, one of competition and expropriation of land, one of exploitation of labour and one in which the Aborigines fulfil a consumer role. In each of these phases, in a chrono- logically compressed version of central Australian events, the Aboriginal mode of production has been largely conserved in order to facilitate the extrac- tion of labour power and consumption capacity without meeting the true eosts of its reproduction. Although this has been to the Aborigines’ disadvan- tage in material terms, it has had the spiritual advantage of allowing the superstructure of their mode of production to survive with relatively lim- ited interference. The assimilationist policies promoted in the 1950s and 1960s would have required complete transformation of the Aboriginal mode of production in order to succeed against the interest of conserving it for the purposes of internal colonialism. it remains to be seen whether the Aborigines will be able to achieve modifications in the way in which the two modes of production are currently articulated. The struggle to do so centres upon land, which is essential to the maintenance of both modes of production. Increasingly, the Abor- iginal peopIe are receiving support from a wider Australian public, some of whom believe that the bicentennia1 celebrations of 1988 should be marked by the long-delayed signing of a Treaty of Commit- ment between the Australian government and the Aboriginal people {HARRIS, 1979).

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