What do you understand by the term aborigines? How is their point of view represented in Australian literature?

Meanwhile the Aborigines had begun to organise against the official government policies of paternalism – which assumed that the Aborigines as a race needed to be taken care of like children – and assimilation in the 1950s and 1960s. The movements for land rights and empowerment were led by leaders like Charles Perkins from the late 1960s onwards. Soon this mobilization began to bear fruit in terms of social reform, greater civic rights and a greater public awareness of Aboriginal issues. On 10 May 1962, the national vote was given to Aborigines. In 1962 the Institute for Aboriginal Studies was established and in 1965 reforms such as the establishment of the Aboriginal Welfare Conference was put into force.

The 1967 referendum granted citizenship rights to Aborigines, allowing them to be counted for the purpose of the national census. There was however strong resistance, to this kind of social reform that empowered the Aborigines, from vested interests in the state governments of Queensland and Western Australia, as well as from mining companies and the landed rural population. This was because in these regions it was felt that these kinds of reforms would ultimately lead to the land being returned to Aborigines. Since farming and mining were very important in these areas this was a big threat to the while people involved in these business.