The Last Protector: The illegal removal of Aboriginal children from their parents in South Australia

by Cameron Raynes

The Last Protector presents a compelling argument that the South Australian government illegally took Aboriginal children from their parents during the years between 1939 and 1954. Adelaide historian Cameron Raynes draws on extensive archival records, the contents of which have never before been available to the public.

Genres: History

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book made me angry, and like other books revealing Australia’s Black history, it should make other readers angry too. The Last Protector, the illegal removal of Aboriginal children from their parents in South Australia shows that even when legislation deliberately curtailed administrative power to prevent the removal of Aboriginal children from their families, the Chief Protector in South Australia flouted those laws anyway.

Cameron Raynes is a name that may be familiar to readers: he has turned his hand to fiction and his book The Colour of Kerosene and Other Stories, and his recent YA novel First Person Shooter were offered as giveaways on my blog. But The Last Protector arises from his PhD on what the blurb calls ‘the moral subtext’ of Aboriginal oral history, and it has the imprimatur of Julian Burnside QC who wrote in the foreword:

This book is the history of a dedicated but deeply flawed public servant who put personal beliefs above humanity, and policy above law.

How could it have happened that Aboriginal children were illegally taken from their parents between 1939 and 1953?

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2016/02/23/th...