Aboriginal AustraliansFor Aboriginal people, Australia was a slightly better place to live in 1945 than in 1900. At the turn of the century, Australian state governments had neither a uniform nor a clear Aboriginal Policy. As a result, the treatment of Aboriginal people was decided by individual attitudes in society, not by law. Although many (white) people were aggressive towards Aboriginal people until well after 1945, a more sympathetic general attitude towards them began to slightly alleviate the severe oppression by which they were shackled. As social attitudes towards Aboriginal people improved, political policy also improved, leading to little improvement (or slight settlement of the Aboriginal economy), although in practice their actual situation had changed little by 1945. Colonization ( 1788) put an end to traditional Aboriginal life and began a period of white degradation, which led to a situation of severe oppression by 1900. Control over all but the most remote areas of Australia had been lost. Aboriginal people were not given the opportunity to determine their own future and their language was also becoming extinct. “Few white people have bothered to learn anything about Aboriginal life; many whites considered Aboriginal people to be oddities or nuisances. To add insult to injury, Aboriginal people were often victims of violent racial crime and discrimination. Asked in 1905 to submit a report to the Western Australian government, Dr WE Roth revealed “an extremely brutal and outrageous situation” in the northern part of the state. As had happened across the country many years earlier, Aboriginal people were treated with gross inhumanity. There was police corruption in the administration of Aboriginal food rations; many Aborigines and Aborigines arrested with...... middle of paper ......tp://www.aaa.com.au/hrh/aboriginal/hist3.shtml#Aboriginal%20Politics%201Australian Aborigines - History and Culture, Research Project15. (Report and Recommendation of the Public Service Board of New South Wales, 1938); taken from: Merrit, Alan and O'Brien, Carolyn; 1995 – “Questions and problems in Australian society”; Thomas NelsonAustralia, Melbourne.16. Gibbs, R.M., 1974 – “The Aborigines”; Addison and Wesley Longman Australia Pty Limited, Melbourne.p. 108-11017. Gibbs, R.M., 1974 – “The Aborigines”; Addison and Wesley Longman Australia Pty Limited, Melbourne.p. 11118. Merrit, Alan and O'Brien, Carolyn; 1995 – “Questions and problems in Australian society”; Thomas Nelson Australia, Melbourne.p. 3819. Merrit, Alan and O'Brien, Carolyn; 1995 – “Questions and problems in Australian society”; Thomas Nelson Australia, Melbourne.p. 38