 The Age reported in 1981 that " Sir Mark Oliphant warned the Dunstan Government of the ' grave dangers ' of appointing an Australian Aborigine , Sir Douglas Nicholls , to succeed him as South Australia 's Governor " . Oliphant had secretly written , " [ t ] here is something inherent in the personality of the Aborigine which makes it difficult for him to adapt fully to the ways of the white man . " The authors of Oliphant 's biography noted that " that was the prevailing attitude of almost the entire white population of Australia until well after World War II " . 
