Inclusion, equality and difference: continuities in public opinion about indigenous Australians

Aboriginal affairs in Australia since World War II have been marked by a series of well-known watersheds, including the third Native Welfare Conference held in 1951, the 1967 referendum, the passing of the Commonwealth's (Northern Territory) "Land Rights Act" in 1976 and the "Mabo" decision in 1992. There is an interpretive peril that, with hindsight, Aboriginal affairs is regarded as having followed a more or less inevitable 'progressive' trajectory since 1945 (which some would argue may have ended under the Howard government), overlooking the contingency and ambiguity of historical change. In this contribution Australian political and social historian Tim Rowse and political scientist Murray Goot focus on attitudes towards reform in Aboriginal affairs reflected in opinion polls at some crucial moments of change.