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It was in the early 1930s that Duguid became involved in the second great passion of his life, Aboriginal rights.
He had long been familiar with poverty and injustice, having first witnessed both on the streets of Glasgow as
a schoolboy and in the poverty stricken areas of his early medical practice in Scotland. A trip to Broken Hill in
1925 had acquainted him with the Australian outback and paved the way for his journeys into Australia’s remote
regions in later years. Raised in a vigorous Presbyterian tradition and imbued with a strong sense of social justice
and a willingness to assist those less fortunate than himself, Duguid reacted strongly to the plight of Aboriginal
Australians when it became known to him. He was supported in his fight for improved Aboriginal welfare by
his second wife, Phyllis Lade, whom he had married in 1930 after three years of widowhood. Duguid became a
personal friend to many Aboriginal people, an untiring fighter for Aboriginal rights and a constant critic of the
Commonwealth government that was responsible for Aboriginal welfare in the Northern Territory. He fought
injustice to Aboriginal people at both the institutional and individual level. One hundred and eighty two centimetres
tall and with an abundance of red hair, he became a familiar figure to the Aboriginal people of Central Australia to
whom he was known as ‘Tjilpi’.
Duguid’s first personal encounter with Aboriginal people was on an investigative trip north in 1934, which
centred on Alice Springs although he had planned to travel further north. He was appalled by much of what he
saw: a high rate of tuberculosis amongst the Aborigines at Hermannsburg, gross overcrowding at the ‘half-caste’
home in Alice Springs, hatred towards Aboriginal people from the local Presbyterian minister and poverty, hunger
and ill-health amongst the Aboriginal people of the Centre. In the next few years Duguid became the Moderator
of the Presbyterian Church in South Australia, President of the Aborigines Protection League, a member of the
South Australian Aborigines Protection Board, and later, President of the Aborigines Advancement League and
life member of the Association for the Protection of Native Races, positions which he used to fight for improved
conditions for Aboriginal people. He was outspoken in making the public aware of the conditions under which
Aboriginal people lived and was a persistent critic of the Commonwealth’s Government’s policy and parsimony.
In 1951 he visited the Top End of the Northern Territory and with Paul Hasluck’s support was given access to
many Aboriginal institutions in the area. Duguid’s criticism of the policy, which removed Aboriginal children
of mixed heritage from their Aboriginal mothers, resulted in its review and modification. He had less influence
in the question of a British rocket range at Woomera but his vocal protest helped raise public awareness of the
grave disadvantages that the government’s action would bring to the Aboriginal people of the central desert
area. When the decision was made to proceed with the construction of the rocket range, Duguid resigned from
the Aborigines Protection Board in protest. Even though a frequent critic of government policy, he was well
respected and his opinions carried weight because of his moderate and considered approach, his great integrity
and his obvious intelligence and goodwill. He was also very willing to distinguish between individual effort and
government policy and became a great supporter of various hardworking and well-intentioned public servants in
the Northern Territory.
Duguid’s early experiences in the Northern Territory led him, in 1935, to explore for himself the Musgrave
Ranges and neighbouring areas of Central Australia. On this journey Duguid became acquainted with Aboriginal
people of the area, many of whom were untouched as yet by white settlement and he determined to provide
them with support before they too suffered the adverse effects of European encroachment into their lands. With
some difficulty he gained the support of the Presbyterian Church for the establishment, in 1937, of a mission at
Ernabella, which was to provide Aboriginal people with medical attention and gradually assist them to move
into the white Australian culture and economy. Although essentially an assimilationist, Duguid advocated gradual
change well supported by education, training and improved living conditions. He had long admired Albrecht’s
work at Hermannsburg, particularly the persistent efforts by the Lutherans to teach in the vernacular. Duguid,
however, advocated a policy of retaining all Pitjantjatjara social, economic and religious organisation and only
slowly modifying that which inhibited their assimilation. The extent to which the Ernabella Mission recognised
and valued Aboriginal culture and endeavoured to incorporate it into mission life was unusual at the time and set a
model for years. Medical work was a main focus at Ernabella and Duguid frequently visited the mission to provide
his services as doctor, and he assisted during several epidemics. He provided on-going advice on nutrition and for
many years provided a home for Pitjantjatjara people visiting Adelaide.
Duguid’s support of Aboriginal people was well recognised and even where the public attention he brought
to Aboriginal welfare was an embarrassment to governments, he was nevertheless respected for his generosity,
integrity and steadfastness. He is remembered as a great supporter of Aboriginal people and his name continues to
be held in high regard in Central Australia.
Following a car accident in 1955, Duguid retired from general surgery but maintained a very active role in
the Aborigines Advancement League. As a member of the League he continued to travel extensively for the next
15 years, visiting many reserves and missions in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and making his
findings public. He continued to work for an improvement in Aboriginal economic and social conditions through
his efforts in public speaking, practical support of Ernabella and political lobbying until his retirement from public
life in the early 1970s when he was almost 90 years old. In 1971 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British
Empire (OBE). He died in Adelaide on 4 December 1986 at the age of 102 and was buried at Ernabella Mission
Station.
C Duguid, The Aborigines of Darwin and the Tropic North, 1951; MacEwen of Glasgow, 1957; No Dying Race, 1963; Doctor and the
Aborigines, 1972.
SUZANNE PARRY, Vol 3.