Writing to Order

Abstract

As alluded to in the chapter on Harris, settlement was not just about the establishment of white British culture, with anomalous European and Chinese additions. It was also intent on the forced resettlement of Indigenous people, particularly children, and especially lighter-skinned children: with a view to assimilation. What follows is something of an ironic gift: a reading of a meta-text I would rather did not exist, or at least that the conditions that produced it had not. It is a text called “The Settlement,” referring to a particular place on Moore River in Western Australia where Indigenous people were resettled (the Australian version of reserves). Gladys Gilligan (1915–c. 1944), a removed (or “stolen”) child resident of Moore River Native Settlement, wrote “The Settlement” under direction from A. O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, at the age of 14.

“The Settlement.” Written 1930 (or late 1929); published in Maushart 1993.