Half-castes and the Franchise

September 25, 1925

15

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Letter to the editor from William Harris, an Aboriginal man, protesting the Aboriginies Act of 1905 and calling for the right to vote.

HALF-CASTES AND THE FRAN-
CHISE.
To the Editor.
Sir.— The proposed enfranchisement
of the half-castes produced a 'lot of in-
sulting remarks from some members of
the Opposition in the Legislative As-
sembly, especially the Leader (Sir James
Mitchell), whose statements were very
misleading and bitter. Sir James said
the bulk of the half-castes were to be
found in the sparsely populated parts
of the country leading the lives of
natives. He knows very well, or. as a
public man. he should know, that the
natives are living exactly the same as
the whites, when possible — by hard
work. There is no other way in which
they can live. Most of them do con-
tract work: some have farms and are
educated, and in that respect they com-
pare more than favourably with the
class of Indians that come here. More-
over, the aborigines and half-castes are
not aliens; they are in their own land,
and some scientists hold that the abori-
gines are the root stock of the Aryan
branch of the human family, and, that
given a chance, they are mentally, mor-
ally, and physically the equals of any
other kind of human being.
I would remind Parliamentarians and
others who object to the half-castes hav-
ing a vote that many of that despised
class fought in the Great War. Now
they are refused a vote, and they are
not allowed to enter a public house,
even to take shelter from a storm. Sir
James Mitchell caused some amusement
by a flippant allusion to the national
costume of the aborigines. Even that
costume might compare favourably with
the skins of animals and blue paint with
which the aboriginal inhabitants of the
British Isles dressed themselves. One
cannot wonder at the viewpoint of Mr.
Teesdale and Mr. Angelo on anything con-
nected with justice and consideration
for the natives. Both were living for
years in a town where aborigines went
clanking through the streets chained by
the neck to wheelbarrows. Mr Tees-
dale says he will walk out of the House
when a half-caste enters it. His threat
to walk out of the House seems a huge
joke, considering the strenuous effort
he has made to keep his seat. His leav-
ing the House may be an awful calamity
or not: it depends on how people regard
his merits as a legislator: at any rate,
the State would survive his desertion.
All will admit that a strong sense of
justice is necessary in a member of Par-
liament. The members mentioned are
on their own showing, deficient in the
qualities of justice and mercy, so they
cannot be first class statesmen.
Sir James Mitchell asked if the Gov-
ernment wished to encourage the build-
ing up of "the unfortunate half caste
class." Unfortunate! Yes, because of
the persistent cruelty and injustice of
certain people. Before me is a copy of
the Aborigines Act. and I have no hesi-
tation in saying that it is a foul blot on
the State of Western Australia, a dis-
grace to those formulating such Acts,
and also to the members of Parliament
who were responsible for such Acts be-
coming law. I am certain the majority
of the people in this State have no idea
how cruelly the natives are treated, or
that they are outlaws, and that without
doing anything to forfeit their rights
to live in freedom in their own land, they
can be taken from any part of the State
and be compelled to live in prison re
serves such as that at Mogumber. But
why try to make Pariahs of natives in
their own land, people with the civilisa-
tion of yesterday, struggling midst ad-
verse conditions to live in the same fields
as the whites who have the knowledge
gained by thousands of years of civilisa-
lion? If the aborigines must go under,
then for humanity's sake give him a
fair deal while he is still, on the sur-
face. — Yours, etc
WILLIAM HARRIS.