Indigenous & Women's Rights

The Interwar period was witness to the mobilization of an Australian feminist campaign for indigenous rights, notably the campaign for women protectors. Such a movement was led by activists who represented various Australian’s women’s organization that had strong affiliations with the British Commonwealth, such as the United Associations of Women. Therefore a ‘distinctively feminist British-Australian voice’ was given to questions of native rights within the Commonwealth.[1] Political changes dealing with the organization of the Commonwealth during the Great War and the succeeding years were enabling for female activists.[2] This was closely linked with a desire to have an active role as members in Commonwealth politics in the post-Versailles world. Just as in Britain, where demands for the equality of women were founded in an understanding of the subordination of Indian women, Australian demands for equality seemingly rested on Aboriginal women.[3] Political Protest over Aboriginal issues had transpired prior to the Great War, however the inter-war period represented an increased vivacity for such protest through organisations such as the Australian Aborigines League and the Australian Aborigines’ Progressive Association. In the scope of Australia, Indigenous and Women’s rights movements differed from that of Britain due to the nation’s position as a settler society. This put white Australian women in a dual position as ‘colonisers and colonised both’.[4] While there was a popular women’s and indigenous rights movement throughout the duration of the interwar years in Australia, it is important to note that Prime Minister Hughes was motivated by his belief in the supremacy of the white race and was the figurehead for the push to prevent a racial equality clause in the Covenant.[5]