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New South Wales - Organisation

Aborigines Protection Board (1883 - 1940)

From
1883
To
1940
Categories
Care Provider and Government Agency
Alternative Names
  • Board for the Protection of Aborigines (also known as)
  • Protection Board (also known as)

The Aborigines Protection Board was established to manage reserves and the welfare of the estimated 9000 Aboriginal people living in New South Wales in the 1880s. It was part of the Department of Police and was chaired by the Commissioner of Police. It met weekly in Phillip Street in Sydney. Board members, including George Edward Ardill of the Sydney Rescue Work Society, developed legislation in the period 1909 to 1935 that restricted the capacity of Aboriginal people to choose where they lived, enjoy education at the same standard offered to the rest of the community, set their own employment contracts, drink alcohol or receive family endowment in cash. After considerable controversy, the Aborigines Protection Board was replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board in 1940.

Timeline

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

Related Concepts

  • Aboriginal School (1915 - 1972)

    The Aborigines Protection 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 Protection Board also helped decide the locations of Aboriginal schools, and monitored students.

  • Homefinder (1890 - 1920s)

Related Glossary Terms

Related Organisations

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

Journals

Online Resources

Photos

Kinchela Home for Boys 1955, where many Koori boys were ill treated
Title
Kinchela Home for Boys 1955, where many Koori boys were ill treated
Type
Image
Date
1955
Publisher
University of Sydney

Details

One of the original front gates from the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home.
Title
One of the original front gates from the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home.
Type
Image
Date
c. 2012
Publisher
National Museum of Australia

Details

The northern side of the former girls' dormitory [former Warangesda Station]
Title
The northern side of the former girls' dormitory [former Warangesda Station]
Type
Image
Date
November 2013
Creator
Christison, Ray

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 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; New South Wales. Aborigines Protection Board (ed.), Report of the Board, Government Printer, 1881-1941. Also available at http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-vn1447508; New South Wales. Aborigines Welfare Board, Annual report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for the year ended 1940, Government Printer, 1941; Parry, Naomi, 'Such a longing': black and white children in welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880-1940, Department of History, University of New South Wales, 2007, 361 pp, http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/40786; 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; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry