While Aboriginal Night and Community Patrols have their roots in pre-invasion Aboriginal cultural and social structures, they are a contemporary adaptation of Aboriginal governance structures and social forms to the changeable conditions of settlement life. The patrols are a grassroots movement, a wholly Indigenous idea, and, as such, operate most successfully from within their own cultural domain. Patrols can be viewed as an example of syncretism; at their best they are a vibrant and positive…
