Protection Policy

Although the 'frontier' period of Australian history can be viewed in the terms of war, there were also many white settlers who were appalled at the treatment of the Indigenous people and wanted to help them. Some of those who tried to help were government officials, others were Christian missionaries. These people truly believed that the Aboriginal people needed their help and without it they would die out. Their somewhat misguided attempts to help the Indigenous people are known as 'paternalism'. Paternalism means looking after someone and taking care of their interests because they cannot do it themselves. Instead of hunting down Aboriginal people and murdering them, government policy changed to treat them as if they were children who had to be protected.
Charles Darwin's theories on evolution and survival of the fittest were wholly accepted by the settlers. They believed that Aboriginal people were weaker and inferior because of the colour of their skin. They judged the Aboriginal peoples by their own European standards and decided that they were primitive and uncultured. They refused to recognise or understand that the Indigenous people had a highly-developed culture and a traditional way of life that was just different from theirs. They saw it as their duty, as the superior, white race, to protect what was left of the Aboriginal peoples before they died out. See image 1
They became convinced that the 'black races' had to die out, and so they thought they could make that process better for Aboriginal people by placing them on government reserves or in church missions where they could die in peace. This new approach to Aboriginal affairs was known as 'Protection' policy. Unfortunately like many other initiatives to help Indigenous people, the protection policy did not protect their freedoms or their way of life - it only helped to further destroy them. See image 2
From the time they first arrived in Australia the white settlers had attempted to 'civilise'