Behrendt, Paul --- "Book Review - Blood from a Stone: William Cooper and the Australian Aborigines League" [1988] AboriginalLawB 53; (1988) 1(34) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 14

• Book Review-Blood From A Stone: William Cooper And The Australian Aborigines League

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Book Review -

Blood from a Stone:
William Cooper and the Australian Aborigines League

by Andrew Markus

Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1988, 123pp

Reviewed by Paul Behrendt

Aboriginal history is plagued with many misconceptions; not the least of which is the notion that the Aboriginal movement was born with the enlightening freedom rides of the 'sixties, or with the heady days of the Tent Embassy in Canberra.

Earlier publications, particularly Jack Horner s Vote Ferguson for Aboriginal Freedom went some of the way to redress that problem, but that book has been consigned to "out of print" limbo and is not readily available. Blood from a Stone, while only a slim volume, plays a part in providing valuable material in this much neglected area by presenting an assortment of documents and letters which focus on the activities of William Cooper and his role in the Aboriginal rights movement.

Cooper, who was the Hon Secretary of The Australian Aborigines League, is probably best remembered for his part in organising the Aboriginal "Day of Mourning" in 1938, and for the citizenship-rights petition to the King that he worked so tirelessly but (as it turned out) so futilely for.

The documents in this collection also demonstrate how Cooper devoted his energies in wide areas - not confining himself to state borders but rather addressing a variety of issues that effected Aboriginal people throughout the whole of the country.

Although Andrew Markus provides a fairly detailed introductory background to Cooper's activities, many who thumb through the book with the expectation of finding a ready analysed and evaluated account of the subject may feel & little cheated - especially as the enticing cover and the sub-title: William Cooper and the Australian Aborigines’ League suggests more than the volume contains.

However, the author never intended it as a detailed biography, and more the pity, for there is an absorbing story about an extremely interesting man that begs to be written.

If nothing else, the records themselves provide a tantalising challenge for an enterprising researcher to compare the attitudes and policies of the movement in Cooper's time with those of Aboriginal acitivists of today. The most striking example is the difference that both groups place on the significance and value of traditional Aboriginal culture.

Cooper's classifications of "myall", "partly civilised" and "civilised" - terms that reek heavily of Elkinese influence - would not be tolerated today; neither would the eurocentric proposal to"uplift the whole of the Aboriginal population to full European culture". Such a proposition peremptorily dismisses the validity of traditional Aboriginal culture and civilisation.

Still, it is both futile and unfair to judge Cooper for his outlook towards those who he categorised as uncivilised, for most of the conditions and constraints to which he was subjected are not present today, and while his actions may seem as a compromise to paternity by some, his proposals were nevertheless highly radical for his day.

It is interesting to note that the same attitude was adopted by William Ferguson's Aborigines' Progressive Association, which operated quite independently of Cooper's organisation, and there is room for further research to ascertain if these notions were expressed out of expediency, in deference to outside influence, or whether they were really believed.

As I indicated earlier, a more comprehensive account on Cooper is both long overdue and highly desirable, but that is not the role of this book which, as a valuable reference, deserves a place in its own right on the shelves of serious students and researchers of Aboriginal history.

Paul Behrendt is Aboriginal Fellow at the University of New South Wales.