The Native Welfare Act 1963 repealed Aborigines Act 1905 and all the Acts that ammended the 1905 Act. Under the 1963 Act the Commissioner of Native Welfare ceased to be the guardian of Aboriginal children, but was responsible for the ‘custody, maintenance and education of the children of natives’. TheNative Welfare Act 1963 was repealed by the Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority Act 1972.
The Native Welfare Act 1963 came into effect on 1 July 1964. It repealed all legislation relating to Aboriginal matters from the Aborigines Act 1905 through to the Native Welfare Act Amendment Act 1960.
The Department of Native Welfare (s.7c) retained responsibility ‘to provide for the custody, maintenance and education of the children of natives’ and the Governor (s.37.2d) could make regulations for those purposes, but the Commissioner of Native Welfare was no longer the guardian of these children. One of the key responsibilities of the Department (s.7f) was to assist in the ‘economic and social assimilation’ of ‘natives’, and specified that only ‘natives’ and specified persons were to enter or remain on reserves.