7 - Dealing with the Devil

Summary

Despite the boost it gave to settler colonialism, Thomas Hodgkin and the Aborigines’ Protection Society initially supported colonization on the ‘systematic’ principles advocated by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. This chapter examines the society’s engagement with three systematic colonization schemes: South Australia; ‘Australind’ in Western Australia; and New Zealand. The systematic colonizers recognized the strength of contemporary humanitarian sentiment: they couched their plans in philanthropic language and courted the support of the Aborigines’ Protection Society. However, evidence quickly emerged of the systematic colonizers’ indifference to and violation of indigenous rights, yet the Aborigines’ Protection Society continued to advocate new systematic colonization schemes into the 1840s. This chapter explores humanitarian dissatisfaction with existing vectors of indigenous protection; desperation for a solution to the emigration crisis; growing disillusionment with imperial inquiries and imperial authorities; the charismatic force exerted by Wakefield; and the allure of a ‘systematic’ plan to protect indigenous rights.