Indigenous Land Loss, Justice and Race: Ann Bon and the Contradictions of Settler Humanitarianism

Abstract

On 17 October 1881, a journalist from the Melbourne newspaper, The Argus, accompanied a group of prominent settlers on a tour of the Coranderrk Aboriginal reserve. These settlers were members of the Board appointed by the Victorian Parliament, to ‘Enquire into, and report upon, the Present Condition and Management of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station’. According to the journalist’s report, the members of the enquiry in attendance were ‘Mrs Bon of Kew, Mr Dow, MLA and Dr Embling’. ‘The appointment of the board [of inquiry]’, the report continued, ‘was chiefly due to the importunities of Mrs Bon, a staunch friend of the blacks and an enthusiastic supporter of their rights.‘1 The tour of Corand..