In nineteenth-century Australia, the main commentators on race and biological differences were doctors. But the medical profession entertained serious anxieties about the possibility of "racial degeneration" of the white population in the new land, and medical and social scientists dedicated themselves to the pursuit of a purified and vigorous white Australia.

The Cultivation of Whiteness examines the notions of 'whiteness' and racism, and introduces a whole new framework for discussion of the history of medicine and science. Anderson provides the first full account of the experimentation in the 1920s and '30s on Aboriginal people of the central deserts-experiments whose revelation compelled a major Australian university to publicly apologize to the Aboriginal people. Lucid and compelling throughout, this pioneering historical survey of ideas will help to reshape debate on race, ethnicity, citizenship, and environment everywhere.