. The blatant ingratitude that the Aboriginal soldiers were confronted with upon return indirectly helped Aboriginality by adding momentum to the 1930s Aboriginal Rights Movement.Australian aborigines largely did not enjoy the benefits of a post war economic boom during the roaring twenties, remaining exploited and abused. During the 1920s, it was commonplace for aborigines to receive provisions for their wages rather than money. In those days the full blood aboriginal never got wages, just a shirt, trousers, boots and hat, and a stick of tobacco. That was their payment. And tucker. As the Aborigines were not able to have an economy under the governments harsh restrictions, an economic boom affected them as a race very little.Massacres of aboriginal people by whites continued in large to the late part of the decade. The last recorded major massacre occurred in November 1928 at Coniston station, near Alice Springs. In response to the murder of a lone European dingo trapper, police set out on a series of raids to find the culprit. A number of aborigines were killed. It was said to be 17 but the board that was appointed to inquire reported that it was 31. The figure is now rumoured to be much higher. However, the police were cleared of the charges on the grounds that [the] group was not dealing with human beings, but with sub-humans outside the consideration of the law. Clearly, societys arrogant, ignorant attitudes towards aborigines had changed little since 1900. However, the Coniston massacre along with reports of killing elsewhere, such as in the Kimberleys, and of the miserable conditions which many Aborigines were forced to endure, aroused concern by white people, particularly city dwellers. The public uproar brought about an end to the blatant massacres, or at least signified that it would no longer be easy to get away with killing streams of Aborigines.Although social reform for Aborigines was very limited in the 1920s, it was a...
