Protection at a Price follows the shifts in Aboriginal protection policy, and the price Aboriginal people had to pay for that protection, in almost seventy years of Commonwealth administration of the Northern Territory. It begins with the Aboriginals Ordinance 1911 when Aboriginal people were believed by many to be dying out, and ends with the Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (Clth) 1974, not long before Territory self-government, when Aboriginal people were a vibrant part of the Territory community.