A. O. Neville

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Auber Octavius Neville (20 October 1875–18 April 1954) was a public servant, notably Chief Protector of Aborigines, in Western Australia.^[1]

Born in Northumberland, England, Neville immigrated to Victoria, Australia as a child. In 1897 he went from Victoria to Western Australia and joined the civil service there, quickly rising through the ranks. Neville became the state's second appointment, in 1915, to the role of the Chief Protector of Aborigines. During the next quarter-century, he presided over the controversial policy of removing Aboriginal children from their parents.^[2] In 1936, Neville became the Commissioner for Native Affairs, a post he held until his retirement in 1940.

Opposition to this practice, later termed the Stolen Generation, was advocated at the time, but his role as Commissioner was never persistently challenged. The period of cultural assimilation, attempted during Neville's administration, had followed an era of direct conflict with indigenous Australians. The political support and funding given to Neville was slight and his capacity to improve their circumstances was restricted. Open hostility was still expressed, in public and parliament, and violence in more remote regions was continuing unabated. Many indigenous peoples became impoverished, especially by dislocation, as the population and development of the state increased. The Commission were given the responsibility for these people, who did not have political rights, and Neville sought to improve the circumstances in which they lived.

Neville believed that biological absorption was the key to 'uplifting the Native race.' Speaking before the Moseley Royal Commission, which investigated the administration of Aboriginals in 1934, he defended the policies of forced settlement, removing children from parents, surveillance, discipline and punishment, arguing that

they have to be protected against themselves whether they like it or not. They cannot remain as they are. The sore spot requires the application of the surgeon's knife for the good of the patient, and probably against the patient's will.

Neville also protested that children had not been removed indiscriminately, insisting that

the children who have been removed as wards of the Chief Protector have been removed because I desired to be satisfied that the conditions surrounding their upbringing were satisfactory, which they certainly were not.

Neville continued to actively promote his views and, towards the end of his career, he published Australia's Coloured Minority, a text outlining his plan for the biological absorption of aboriginal people into white Australia. The book contained a defence of his policy, but also an admission that the Aborigines had been harmed by European intervention. For this reason, he said, more must be done to assist them:

I make no apologies for writing the book, because there are things which need to be said. So few of our own people as a whole are aware of the position [of the coloured people of Australia]. Yet we have had the coloured man amongst us for a hundred years or more. He has died in his hundreds, nay thousands, in pain, misery and squalor, and through avoidable ill-health. Innumerable little children have perished through neglect and ignorance. The position, in some vital respects, is not much better today than it was fifty years ago. Man is entitled to a measure of happiness in his life. Yet most of these people have never known real happiness. Some are never likely to know it. The causes of their condition are many. Mainly it is not their fault, it is ours, just as it lies with us to put the matter right.^[3]

Neville was a notable resident of Darlington and was a regular user of the passenger railway service which closed a few months before his death. He died in Perth, and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.

[edit] Portrayals

Neville has been portrayed in artistic works as the public face of this policy in the 2002 film Rabbit Proof Fence (played by Kenneth Branagh), and in Jack Davis' 1985 play, No Sugar.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Jacobs, Pat (1990). Mister Neville, A Biography. Fremantle Arts Centre Press. ISBN 0-949206-72-5. 
• Kinnane, Stephen (2003). Shadow Lines. Fremantle Arts Centre Press. ISBN 1-86368-237-6.