Acts of savagery: a note on poverty, racism and the law

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Title: Acts of savagery: a note on poverty, racism and the law
Author(s): Kimber, Julie
Abstract: In October 1967, two policemen entered a house on the outskirts of Korumburra and dragged two young men, aged seventeen and nineteen, out of bed Handcuffed together and hauled before the local stipendiary magistrate, the brothers faced a charge of having insufficient means of support. This offence, a colonial legacy, carried a maximum penalty of twelve months imprisonment under the Vagrancy Act 1966. Viewed by many legal scholars as an anachronistic instrument, the offence of insufficient means of support was a valuable, and blunt, mechanism for police to enforce social control. The case of these two brothers, brought to public attention through a campaign by the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, highlights the disjuncture between localised paternalism and state policy. In this case, the Victorian government's policy of 'active assimilation' worked alongside the laws of vagrancy to demonstrate the interconnectedness of racism, poverty and the law.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 83, no. 2 (Nov 2012), pp. 255-270
Publication year: 2012
FOR Code(s): 160699 Political Science not elsewhere defined; 2103 Historical Studies
Keyword(s): History; Law; Poverty; Racism; Savagery
Publisher: Royal Historical Society of Victoria
ISSN: 1030-7710
Publisher URL: http://www.historyvictoria.org.au/publications/victorian-historical-journal
Peer reviewed