In Australia assimilation meant conforming to the dominant British culture.

One of the major political debates in Australia at the moment is that of the
Stolen Generation of Aborigines which refers to various Governmental
attempts at forced assimilation of Aborigines into white society via
removing children from their families and either keeping them in homes (or
orphanages) where they could be brought "properly" or sending them to foster
families. The aim seems to have been to break down "traditional" Aboriginal
values and assimilate Aborigines into white culture. All this was done by
various "Boards of Protection" and Church groups whose aim was to help
Aboriginal people. As you can imagine the effects on families and individual
people was appalling. Their was a major inquiry into the whole process about
2 years ago and as part of the wash up most Parliaments passed motions
unreservedly apologising for the actions of the past. Of course our gutless
prime minister could not say sorry but he expressed his "regret". Now he is
saying it wasn't a generation because only 10% of the Aboriginal population
was removed!

As you can imagine assimilation is quite an interesting topic. Its major
effect on archaeology lies in the relationship between Aborigines and the
mainly white Archaeologists.

Iain Stuart