Couldn't Be Fairer

Clip 2: ‘The Aboriginal problem’

2 min 26 sec

Taken from the documentary Couldn't Be Fairer (1984)

Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be PG

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Availability of the complete title

Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.

Curator’s clip description

Talking head newscast discussing the ‘Aboriginal problem’. In this instance, Lang Hancock offers sterilisation as a solution to ‘the problem’.

Curator’s notes

The news and interview footage in this clip is from a relatively recent time in Australian history. The openness with which sterilisation is proposed as a solution to the Aboriginal problem – especially the half-castes who are not considered legitimate Aborigines – frames the way in which the Australian public felt justified in having such discussions publicly. Such opinions are very recent, and still surface in race discussions on the ongoing distinction between ‘true Aborigines’ and ‘hybrid’ Aborigines.

Romaine Moreton, curator

australian screen