2015/01/01 by Jane Lydon · 7 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Australian History and Society #Humanity #Globe #Declaration #Colonialism #Sociology #Shame #Human rights #Aesthetics #Element (criminal law) #Law #Environmental ethics #Media studies #Political science #Art #Philosophy #Psychology
paper · doi:10.1080/14490854.2015.11668554
published in History Australia 12(1), 75-94 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2015/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This article explores the role of the 1904 report of the Roth inquiry into Aboriginal administration in Western Australia in defining metropolitan-colonial relations and in shaping debates about imperial humanitarianism. The debates prompted by the Report invoked not only a contrast between imperial shame and colonial independence on questions of the ‘new slaveries’ of imperial labour but also competing notions of humanity. Aesthetic experience was a crucial element of this story, as literary and visual forms created a sense of proximity between peoples across the globe and generated perceptions of a shared humanity. The article focuses on one of the many British commentators in this debate, the popular writer H. G. Wells, whose cosmopolitan vision of humanity questioned contemporary views of the categorisation of humanity itself. Many years later, Wells’ work on the Sankey Declaration laid the groundwork for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations.This article has been peer reviewed