The Aborigines Act 1957
Details
The Aborigines Act 1957 (No. 6086) was drawn up following the McLean Inquiry's 'Report on the operation of the Aborigines Act [1928]'. The 1957 legislation repealed the Aborigines Act 1928, and was itself repealed by the 1958 legislation on 1 April 1959.
The Aborigines Act 1957 abolished the Board for Protection of Aborigines, replacing it with the new Aborigines Welfare Board.
It established the new role of Superintendent of Aborigines Welfare. The Superintendent was also the executive officer of the Board.
Section 6 provided:
It shall be the function of the Board to promote the moral intellectual and physical welfare of aborigines (which term for the purposes of this Act includes not only full-blooded aboriginal natives of Australia but also any person of aboriginal descent) with a view to their assimilation into the general community.
1870 - 1890 An Act to Provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria
1887 - 1890 The Aborigines Protection Act 1886
1890 - 1915 Aborigines Act 1890
1915 - 1929 Aborigines Act 1915
1929 - 1957 Aborigines Act 1928
1957 - 1959 Aborigines Act 1957
1959 - 1968 Aborigines Act 1958
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Victoria: Legislation', in To remove and protect: laws that changed Aboriginal lives, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2008, https://aiatsis.gov.au/collection/featured-collections/remove-and-protect; Law Research Service, Melbourne Law School, Law Library, The University of Melbourne. 'Find and Connect Project - Victorian Legislation', 1 February 2013, held in the project files at the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 15 September 2009, Last modified: 24 March 2017
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000434b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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