What is an aborigine?
The actual legal definition differs in different States of the Commonwealth. In some places he is a full-blood Australian aboriginal native or one with a preponderance of aboriginal blood. That is, a half-caste is not included in the definition. In other places the definition covers all with more than 25 per cent native blood. In this case, a quarter-caste is not a native, while a person with five-sixteenths native blood or more, is legally so. In either case, a person with any degree of native blood may be declared to be an aborigine, and under certain conditions brought under the sway of covering legislation. At the same time, those who are legally aborigines may be exempted from the Act, and/or granted citizenship rights. Strangely enough, the children of a person granted citizenship rights may or may not be included in the citizenship. In some cases their names are written into the official papers held by their parents.
