Aborigines Protection Board and reserves 1909-1969
In 1909, the Aborigines Protection Board became the owner of all reserves. The Board had control over who could, and could not, live on a reserve. Board officials, including Board employees and NSW police officers, had direct control over the lives of Aboriginal people on reserves.
The Aborigines Protection Board was established in 1883. In its early years, it supplemented the work of charitable organisations like the Aborigines Protection Association (). See SUB0273 for more about the Board and its role in missions and reserves in its early years.
In 1909, the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) constituted the Board in legislation for the first time, and made it ‘the authority for the protection and care of aborigines’, subject to the direction of the Minister ().
The Board was given the duty to ‘to manage and regulate the use of reserves’ and became the owner of all reserves and their buildings (). This included reserves that were known as stations, which had station managers on site, and unmanaged reserves that were mostly overseen by local police officers.
Who could live on a reserve
Between 1909 to 1918 it was unlawful for anyone other than an ‘Aborigine’ to enter or remain on a reserve (excluding Board officials) ().
In that time, ‘Aborigine’ was defined as ‘any full-blooded aboriginal native of Australia, and any person apparently having an admixture of aboriginal blood’ who met certain conditions (see SUB0277).
From 1918, the definition of ‘Aborigine’ was narrowed to ‘any full-blooded or half-caste aboriginal’. However, the Board could give a permit to ‘any person apparently having an admixture of Aboriginal blood’ to come on to a reserve on the terms and conditions that the Board thought fit (). There were no rules about who decided whether a person was ‘full-blooded’ or otherwise, or how.
When this change was made, a member of Parliament asked ‘what will become of the old women and young children of half-castes, because with this altered definition of aborigine they will have no right to stay in the camps and will not come under the administration of the board’. He said that ‘the board now has power to put certain persons out’ ().
The Board could also remove any ‘Aborigine’ from a reserve if they were guilty of misconduct or if the Board thought they should be earning a living away from the reserve ().
Management of Stations and Reserves
A station was a type of reserve () where the Board exercised more day-to-day management. The 1949 Annual Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board described stations:
An Aboriginal Station consists of a community settlement embracing a home for each family, a school, ration store, recreation hall, medical treatment annexe and water supply. Where appropriate the community has its own dairy herd and vegetable garden. Church services are held in the recreation hall in most cases. The fundamental purpose of aboriginal stations is to provide a home and refuge for those aborigines who would not be able effectively to fend for themselves outside the Board's care and protection ().
On stations, management was ‘vested in a Manager who resides on the premises and he is assisted by a Matron’ (), a role filled by the manager’s wife (, ). Matrons’ role focused on oversight of the domestic life women and children () (see SUB0275).
Managers could be appointed by the Board and had wide authority and responsibilities (, ). This included managing buildings, reporting to the Board the particulars of the station and the people living there, exercising ‘supervision of the Aborigines at the stations’ and ‘discouraging any further introduction of half-castes'().
In many instances, managers acted as both teacher and station manager (, ). After the Aborigines Protection Board was replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board in 1940, the Board sought to separate these roles and appoint qualified teachers (). This started to happen at some stations from 1941 ().
Other reserves, which did not have stations, were overseen by officials including local police officers who reported to the Board (, , , ). The officials distributed rations and blankets (, ).
The first welfare officer was appointed in Casino in 1944 (), and District and Areas Welfare Officers began being trained and appointed in 1947-1948 (). These officers were responsible for individual regions, and would supervise and monitor the Aboriginal people in their district, including those living on non-station reserves.
Relocations
From 1909, the Board had the power to ‘remove’ Aboriginal people who were ‘camped or are about to camp within or near any reserve, town, or township’ to any distance as they might direct (), a significant expansion of its power.
In 1933-34, for example, Aboriginal people living near Yass, who had previously lived on the Edgerton Reserve, were told to move to a new station (). The Board said that this was for the benefit of the Aboriginal people and that it would be welcomed by the townspeople of Yass.
This relocation power was expanded in 1936, when the Board could apply for an order that an Aboriginal person be removed ‘to a reserve or place controlled by the board’ if the Board was of the view that the person was ‘living in insanitary or undesirable conditions’ (). The Board had asked for this power, and said it was necessary to move Aboriginal people from smaller, unmanaged reserves to the stations ().
The member of parliament for Cobar, Mr Mark Davidson, spoke against this amendment. ‘To compel an aboriginal to go into a reserve or to a mission is tantamount to putting him in gaol, because it is an interference with his liberty’ (). Davidson was a frequent advocate for Aboriginal people in parliament, including calling for, and chairing, the 1937 inquiry into the Board (). He opposed a plan to move Aboriginal people from Angledool to the station at Brewarrina, arguing that it was inappropriate to expect Aboriginal people from different places to live together (). By 1939, these people had been moved ().
In 1940, this power was expanded again, when the Aborigines Protection Board was replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board. The Board could now apply for an order that an Aboriginal person to be sent to a reserve (or other place under the Board’s control) if ‘in the opinion of the Board they should be placed under control’ (). Again, Mr Davidson spoke against this and said ‘Our aborigines want more freedom and education. They do not want to be segregated' ().
Child Removal
The Board also removed children from stations and reserves and placed them into training homes and apprenticeships. In Parliament, the government was explicit about its expectation that removing children would cause them to ‘merge into the present civilisation’ and that the government would no longer be required to ‘maintain stations’ (). See SUB0087 for more information about child removal.
From 1912, the Board employed a ‘Home-finder’, who visited stations and camps, ‘inducing the parents to allow their children to be apprenticed out, or ... to allow them to enter Cootamundra Home’ ().
In 1916 the Board adopted a policy that ‘all girls on reaching the age of 14 years … shall leave the reserves’ (). These girls were usually taken to Cootamundra Girls Home or sent to apprenticeships ().
In 1920, the Singleton Boys’ Home was said to accommodate ‘an average of 30 Aboriginal boys who are taken from reserves’ who were to live in the home until they were ‘of an age to enable them to go to employment’ ().
In 1950, the Board arranged for stations and reserves to receive photos of children who were living at Cootamundra Girls Home and Kinchela Boys Home, in response to relatives asking for information about children who had been removed ().
The end of reserves
In 1967, a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the ‘welfare of Aborigines’ found that ‘the congregation of Aboriginals on reserves is one of the main factors retarding them from becoming full members of the community’. The committee recommended ‘every effort be made to encourage Aborigines to leave reserves’, although Aboriginal people would be permitted to remain on reserves if they chose to do so (). This committee also recommended the Board be abolished ().
In 1969 the Aborigines Act 1969 (NSW) () dissolved the Board and made all reserves Crown land within the meaning of the Crown Lands Consolidation Act 1913 (NSW) (). The reserves and the houses on the reserves were vested in the Minister for Social Welfare and managed by the Housing Commission (). Six thousand Aboriginal people lived on reserves at this time ().
See SUB0502 for more about the transfer of reserves to the Aboriginal Lands Trust.