Doctor and the Aborigines by Charles Duguid

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed and dated front endpage. Dust jacket is enclosed in protective covering. Interior and binding are still very good.

The autobiography of Charles Duguid (1884-1986), medical practitioner, Presbyterian leader, and Aboriginal rights campaigner. He founded the Ernabella Mission in Central Australia, one of the most successful ventures of its kind in Australian history. He was the inaugural president of the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, a member of the Aborigines’ Protection Board in South Australia and a life member of the South Australia Aborigines’ Advancement League.

In 1947, Dr Duguid made international headlines when he resigned from the Aborigines’ Protection Board in protest against his fellow members' willingness to allow the Woomera Rocket Range to be established on part of the Central Australian Aboriginal Reserve.

His influence on the thinking of two state premiers, Labour’s Don Dunstan and Liberal’s David Tonkin, led to the formation of the Aboriginal Lands Trust of South Australia and the unprecedented return of the Pitjantjatjara people to their ancient tribal lands in the north of the state.

In the early 1980s, the elders of the Pitjantjatjara tribe, who called Dr Duguid ‘Tjilpi’ (‘Old Man Father’), announced that they wanted him to be buried at Ernabella ‘so that Aborigines will always remember that he was one of us and that he faithfully helped us’. After his death on 5th December 1986, his body was flown to Ernabella and buried among his Aboriginal friends. (South Australia History Hub)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers, please note that this book may contain descriptions and/or images of people who have passed away.