This book focuses on the colonial practice of rationing goods to Aboriginal people, arguing that much of the colonial experience in Central Australia can be understood by seeing rationing as a fundamental, though flexible, instrument of colonial government. Rationing was the material basis for a variety of colonial ventures: scientific, evangelical, pastoral and the postwar program of "assimilation." Combining history and anthropology in a cultural study of rationing, this book develops a new narrative of the colonization of Central Australia. Contents: A theatre of stages; PART ONE; 1 Rationing the inexplicable; 2 Rationed actors; PART TWO; 3 Rural central Australia, 1914-40; 4 Town, cash and supervision; 5 'A Christian cannot be a parasite'; 6 The World War in town and hinterland; Conclusion: Indigenous welfare at mid-century; PART THREE; 7 'Assimilation'; 8 The crisis of managed consumption; 9 Settlements and families; 10 Alice Springs and its town camps; Continuities
