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New South Wales - Concept

Aboriginal School (1915 - 1972)

From
1915
To
1972
Categories
Term commonly found on child welfare records

Aboriginal schools were separate public schools. They were created because Aboriginal children were legally required to attend school, but could be excluded from public schools if non-Aboriginal parents complained about their presence. The syllabus for Aboriginal Schools stopped at Grade 3, meaning children attending them were disadvantaged.

Details

Teachers in Aboriginal Schools were paid by the Education Department and received an additional allowance from the Aborigines Protection Board to supervise adults living on the station, as teacher-managers. Aboriginal schools were phased out from the 1960s, as access to mainstream schools improved.

Aboriginal School Files belong to the Education Department and are held by New South Wales State Records. They sometimes contain information about removals of children, as well as providing valuable information about family history.

Related Archival Series

Related Organisations

Publications

Journals

  • 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. Details
  • New South Wales. Aborigines Welfare Board (ed.), Annual report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for the year ended …, Government Printer, 1949-1968. Details

Online Resources

Photos

[Cootamundra Training Home for Girls - school]
Title
[Cootamundra Training Home for Girls - school]
Type
Image
Date
c. 1915 - c. 1920
Source
State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 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; New South Wales. Aborigines Welfare Board (ed.), Annual report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for the year ended …, Government Printer, 1949-1968; 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.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry