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Organisation Aborigines Welfare Board (1940 - 1969)

  • Click to view details about this Photograph

    Murrin Bridge Aboriginal Station, c. 1950
    Details

From
1940
To
1969
Categories
Care Provider, Government Agency and Stolen Generations

Summary

The Aborigines Welfare Board was created in 1940, under the Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1940. It replaced the Aborigines Protection Board. The Under Secretary of the Colonial Secretary's Department was appointed chairman and provision was made for ten other members, of whom one was to be a full-blooded Aborigine and one either a full-blooded Aborigine or a person having an admixture of blood, as representatives for their people.

The policy of the Aborigines Welfare Board was to encourage the assimilation of Aborigines into the general community. The Board sponsored the erection of houses for leasing and provided housing loans to the Aborigines. It exercised general supervision over matters affecting the welfare of Aborigines, managed the Aboriginal stations and reserves, provided for the custody and maintenance of Aboriginal children whose parents were unable to care for them and provided scholarships, travelling expenses, uniforms, textbooks, etc. for children of necessitous Aboriginal families.

The Aborigines Welfare Board held its final meeting on 29 April 1969 and was replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Directorate, Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare (later the Aborigines Services Branch, Youth and Community Services).

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Timeline

 1883 - 1940 Aborigines Protection Board
       1940 - 1969 Aborigines Welfare Board
             1969 - 1975 Aborigines Welfare Directorate

Related Glossary Terms

  • Aboriginal School (1915 - 1972)

    The Aborigines Welfare Board paid part of the salary of school teachers in Aboriginal schools, in return for the teacher serving as a manager of the reserve on which the school was located. The Welfare Board also helped decide the locations of Aboriginal schools, and monitored students.

  • Stolen Generations

Publications

Books

  • Goodall, Heather, Invasion to Embassy: land in Aboriginal politics in New South Wales, 1770-1972, 2nd edn, Sydney University Press (originally published Allen & Unwin, 1996), Sydney, 2008, 505 pp. Details
  • Mellor, Doreen and Haebich, Anna, Many Voices: reflections on Indigenous child separation, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2002, 324 pp. Details

CD Roms

  • Dawn and New Dawn 1952-1975: A magazine for the Aboriginal people of New South Wales, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 2004. Details

Theses

  • Shepley, Christine Anne Taylor, 'To be seen and not heard: the story of the Kinchela Training Home for Aboriginal Boys 1923-1970', PhD thesis, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, 306 pp. Details

Online Resources

Gallery

Title
Murrin Bridge Aboriginal Station
Type
Image
Date
c. 1950

Details

Title
Back to Cootamundra
Type
Video
Date
9 June 2012
Source
YouTube

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Dawn and New Dawn 1952-1975: A magazine for the Aboriginal people of New South Wales, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 2004; Goodall, Heather, Invasion to Embassy: land in Aboriginal politics in New South Wales, 1770-1972, 2nd edn, Sydney University Press (originally published Allen & Unwin, 1996), Sydney, 2008, 505 pp; Mellor, Doreen and Haebich, Anna, Many Voices: reflections on Indigenous child separation, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2002, 324 pp; Parry, Naomi, 'Such a longing': Black and white children in welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880 to 1920, Department of History, University of New South Wales, 2007, 361 pp, http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/4033481; Radi, Heather, ''Ardill, George Edward (1857-1945)'', in Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Melbourne University Press, 1979, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ardill-george-edward-5048; Shepley, Christine Anne Taylor, 'To be seen and not heard: the story of the Kinchela Training Home for Aboriginal Boys 1923-1970', PhD thesis, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, 306 pp.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry

Created: 21 February 2011, Last modified: 18 June 2012