White, Isobel --- "Book Review - The Australian Aborigines: A Portrait of their Society" [1983] AboriginalLawB 25; (1983) 1(8) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 11

• Book Review-The Australian Aborigines: A Portrait Of Their Society

---

Book Review -

The Australian Aborigines:
A Portrait of their Society

by Kenneth Maddock

Penguin Books, Ringwood, Vic.

1982. RRP. $7.95 (Second Edition)

Reviewed by Isobel White

When the first edition of this book appeared in 1972, it was greeted with enthusiasm, particularly by those teaching the anthropology of Australian Aborigines. It was the first general book in this field that attempted to give a simple brief analytical framework without describing and categorising each kind of society from Cape York to Cape Leeuwin. It generalised - perhaps rather too much - about the basic structures of Aboriginal society, giving examples from only a few years. It thus filled the need for a short text-book for undergraduate students, giving them a framework from which to analyse particular societies.

One serious criticism of the first edition was that it exaggerated the superiority of men's status over women's, both in secular and religious matters. In the chapter 'Women and Society', Maddock tended to delineate women merely as pawns in a marriage game played by men, and laid emphasis on women's exclusion from the most important part of men's ceremonies. In this second edition he has made a few alterations to bring the descriptions into line with more recent findings and opinions, mostly by women anthropologists; for example, he concedes Aboriginal women have more say in marriage arrangements and general decision-making than male anthropologists had reported, and that they had important functions with regard to land. However, he repeats his previous conclusions about their religious status.

Since Kenneth Maddock's first degree was in law, he has studied and written about Aboriginal law in its traditional form, in its changes owing to contact, and in its conflicts with white Australian law. In the first and last chapters of this book he has devoted a number of pages to discussing the question referred to the Law Reform Commission of "whether it would be desirable to apply either in whole or in part Aboriginal customary law to Aborigines, either generally or in particular areas or to those living in tribal areas only". He points out that many Aborigines have shown that they would like to return to living under their own law by moving to outstations, where they can organise their own lives, whereas on the settlements "whitefella law" still prevails. A significant consequence of the granting of land rights is the willingness of the owners to make good use of the land newly won back.

The Law Reform Commission has had to pay special attention to whether some practices incorporated in Aboriginal law and custom infringe basic human rights. Maddock describes how the concept of human rights tends to change over time, and lists some Aboriginal practices that might offend today's standards. These include the custom, still prevalent in north and central Australia of arranging marriages between young girls and much older men. The lack of individual freedom for the girls could be held to infringe their rights, and in addition statutory rape might be committed. There is the question of mutilation involved in initiation; moreover there have been cases where youths have been seized forcibly and virtually kidnapped for initiation.

Maddock quotes cases where Australian courts have waived the right to impose sentence on Aborigines found guilty of violent crimes and have sent them back to their elders for punishment, which is likely to involve spearing. He writes that "The spearing of an offender will seem too harsh from one point of view. From another point of view, however, it is a good deal less cruel than a long term of imprisonment". As a counter to this argument, Maddock suggests that "Aboriginal law provided harsh penalties for religious and sexual offenders, even if they had erred unwittingly, and it allowed a relative or friend of the actual culprit to be punished if this was more convenient ... Whites could not stand by and allow Aborigines who broke such rules to be killed or seriously assaulted ... No answer to the question of human rights will satisfy everyone". Maddock leaves this question open for discussion, and I recommend this section of his book (pps. 172-178) for careful consideration by lawyers concerned with Aborigines.

I have some criticisms of publishing and printing details. Instead of the Harvard method of citing references (in brackets in the text) used in the first edition, this edition has the reference in notes at the end of the book, and no complete bibliography at all - a method I find irritating. The index is much slighter in this edition (10 columns against 15), so that many subjects are not indexed. Finally, I dislike the typeface, 'Novarese Book'; commas, full stops and quotation marks are so faint that I found my reading often halted, because I had not noticed the beginning of a new sentence. Perhaps all these details are aimed at economising; if so, the comparatively low price for such a book is a good result, but this volume does not give the impression of excellent workmanship that older Pelicans do.