Whitefella Comin’: Aboriginal Responses to Colonialism in Northern Australia

This book was first published in 1992. Aboriginal people in Australia's Gulf Country had been dealing with Whites for more than one hundred years. Whitefella Comin' depicts life at Doomadgee, an Aboriginal settlement administered by Brethren missionaries from the early 1930s until 1983. Dr Trigger's portrayal of life at Doomadgee was the first to be published by an anthropologist about such a settlement in Queensland. Through detailed historical and ethnographic study, the author seeks understanding of Aboriginal responses to the intrusions of Australian society. He examines coercion and violence on the frontier, the incorporation of Aboriginal people into the pastoral industry and their reactions to both the authoritarianism and benevolent paternalism of Christian missionaries. The influence of government policies and administrative practices is examined throughout the book. In addressing the structures and processes of power relations between Aborigines and Whites, the author develops an analysis of resistance and accommodation on the part of Aboriginal people.