CHAPTER 34
CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY, OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL
The badlands on the border of Northern Territory and Western Australia show what happens when you lose control of your destiny. Uncle Jack is a leader of one of the aboriginal communities in the area. He was dismissive of the aborigines who had drifted to town: “Drink, drugs and dice. Then death. That’s their problem,” he said.
The journey to drink, drugs and dice was not what the aborigines had planned. After the war, the Australian government decided to help the aborigines by civilising them: that meant taking the children away from their parents and putting them into special schools. Inevitably, there was much good will and much abuse as well. The girls would be put into domestic service ...
