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Colonial Judiciaries, Aboriginal Protection and South Australia's Policy of Punishing ‘with Exemplary Severity’

Abstract The ways in which Europeans experienced the legal system for crimes against Aboriginal people needs more systematic research. Although for the first fifty years of Australian settlement Aboriginal legal status was protractedly ambiguous, the foundational principle of later-established South Australia was that Aboriginal people were British subjects and settler crimes against them would be punished ‘with exemplary severity’. This paper puts this foundational principle to the test by examining the working of the legal system where Europeans were investigated for the deaths of Aboriginal people. Ultimately, we argue, the principle of protecting Aboriginal people as British subjects not only failed, but became inverted into a principle of Aboriginal punishment.