“Dealing with half-castes—and this clause has chief reference to these people—Dr. Bryan has spoken strongly against the mating of half-castes with half- castes, on the ground that it will perpetuate the black and coloured elements. And still, ‘without advocating the marriage of whites and half-castes, he does support the mating of a half-caste with a coloured person higher in the white scale. To further this scheme, he says, we should do all in our power to prevent a half-caste marrying another half-caste, and to encourage him or her to look higher.
This, of course, can only be done by throwing these people together and hoping for the best, and this is just what in other words I have been advocating when suggesting the Community Settlements where these coloured people, or half-castes as I have called them (without reference to the degree of colour in them), will live their lives together under proper supervision.
If this scheme of breeding out the colour is really effective, and if these people assist in the policy by choosing the appropriate partners, well and good. If, on the other hand, a half-caste chooses to marry a half-caste, then I would not be a party to interfering with such choice, hoping always that, as the coloured race multiplied, effective administration might be the means of raising them in habits if not in colour.”
From the Moseley Royal Commission report
https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/digitised_collections/remove/93309.pdf