Book excerpt: Machine generated contents note: Introduction: how settlers gained self-government and indigenous people (almost) lost it; Part I.A Four-Cornered Contest: British Government, Settlers, Missionaries and Indigenous Peoples: 1. Colonialism and catastrophe: 1830; 2. 'Another new world inviting our occupation': colonisation and the beginnings of humanitarian intervention, 1831-1837; 3. Settlers oppose indigenous protection: 1837-1842; 4. A colonial conundrum: settler rights versus indigenous rights, 1837-1842; 5. Who will control the land? Colonial and imperial debates 1842-1846; Part II. Towards Self-Government: 6. Who will govern the settlers? Imperial and settler desires, visions, utopias, 1846-1850; 7. 'No place for the sole of their feet': imperial-colonial dialogue on Aboriginal land rights, 1846-1851; 8. Who will govern Aboriginal people? Britain transfers control of Aboriginal policy to the colonies, 1852-1854; 9. The dark side of responsible government? Britain and indigenous people in the self-governing colonies, 1854-1870; Part III. Self-Governing Colonies and Indigenous People, 1856-c.1870: 10. Ghosts of the past, people of the present: Tasmania; 11. 'A refugee in our own land': governing Aboriginal people in Victoria; 12. Aboriginal survival in New South Wales; 13. Their worst fears realised: the disaster of Queensland; 14. A question of honour in the colony that was meant to be different: Aboriginal policy in South Australia; Part IV. Self-Government for Western Australia: 15. 'A little short of slavery': forced Aboriginal labour in Western Australia 1856-1884; 16. 'A slur upon the colony': making Western Australia's unusual constitution, 1885-1890; Conclusion.