Tim Rowse

As Australia became a nation in 1901, no one anticipated that ‘Aboriginal affairs’ would become an on-going national preoccupation. Not ‘dying out’ as predicted, Aboriginal num

H. C. Coombs was one of the most influential Australians of the twentieth century. Born in 1906, he is best known as the governor of the Reserve Bank, but the breadth of his activities and his commitment to public life until his death is unsurpassed. Tim Rowse traces Coombs' life from his childhood in Western Australia to his many roles as policy maker, change agent, advocate and adviser. Particularly interested in Coombs as an economist, Tim Rowse shows that a key motif in his life as a public servant was to create an economic rationality among the political elite that was socially integrative and that looked beyond the strictures of economics to environmental sustainability, scientific and artistic creativity. This 2002 book covers Coombs' life from birth to death, providing intriguing insights into the life of one of Australia's most influential people.

As a result of self-determination policy, the ?Indigenous Sector’?thousands of Indigenous organizations established since the early 1970s?has flourished, enhancing the Indigenous capacity to make choi

H. C. Coombs was one of the most influential Australians of the twentieth century. Born in 1906, he is best known as the governor of the Reserve Bank, but the breadth of his activities and his commitment to public life until his death is unsurpassed. Tim Rowse traces Coombs' life from his childhood in Western Australia to his many roles as policy maker, change agent, advocate and adviser. Particularly interested in Coombs as an economist, Tim Rowse shows that a key motif in his life as a public servant was to create an economic rationality among the political elite that was socially integrative and that looked beyond the strictures of economics to environmental sustainability, scientific and artistic creativity. This 2002 book covers Coombs' life from birth to death, providing intriguing insights into the life of one of Australia's most influential people.

Since the 1967 constitutional referendum, Australian governments have moved towards policies of indigenous self-determination. Obliged to be Difficult, first published in 2000, presents the central issue of self-determination as seen by Dr H. C. Coombs, the most important policy maker since the referendum: through what political mechanisms will indigenous Australians find their own voice? Coombs was singularly influential within government in the years 1967 to 1976, and he remained a tireless critic and policy advocate from 1977 to 1996. Rowse's narrative of his work, drawing on many unpublished sources, illuminates the interplay of government policy with indigenous practice. This book is both an account of government policies and a biographical slice of an outstanding Australian. In attempting a critical celebration of Coombs' vision and methods, it invites informed reflection on the issues of land rights, sovereignty and reconciliation in these conservative, and highly anxious, times

Since the 1967 constitutional referendum, Australian governments have moved towards policies of indigenous self-determination. Obliged to be Difficult, first published in 2000, presents the central issue of self-determination as seen by Dr H. C. Coombs, the most important policy maker since the referendum: through what political mechanisms will indigenous Australians find their own voice? Coombs was singularly influential within government in the years 1967 to 1976, and he remained a tireless critic and policy advocate from 1977 to 1996. Rowse's narrative of his work, drawing on many unpublished sources, illuminates the interplay of government policy with indigenous practice. This book is both an account of government policies and a biographical slice of an outstanding Australian. In attempting a critical celebration of Coombs' vision and methods, it invites informed reflection on the issues of land rights, sovereignty and reconciliation in these conservative, and highly anxious, times