Aboriginal Lands Trust and reserves 1973-1983
In 1969, with the end of Aborigines Protection Act, Aboriginal reserves became Crown reserves and houses on reserves came under Housing Commission management. By 1976, the former reserves had been transferred to the Aboriginal Lands Trust. Many were in extremely poor condition.
In 1969, the NSW Parliament passed the Aborigines Act 1969 (NSW) which ended the Aborigines Welfare Board (previously the Aborigines Protection Board). The reserves that had been owned by the Board became Crown lands reserved ‘for the use of Aborigines’ () (see SUB0543 for more information about the Board and reserves).
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 ().
The Aboriginal Lands Trust
In 1973, the NSW Parliament established the Aboriginal Lands Trust ().
The Government said the establishment of the Trust was in line with the Aborigines Advisory Council’s recommendation ‘that Aboriginal reserves be placed under the control of an all-Aboriginal authority’ in 'a scheme of collective ownership’ (). The Trust was made up of nine Aboriginal members elected by Aboriginal people living in NSW (, ).
The Minister could transfer ownership of reserves to the Trust with the Trust’s consent. The Trust received a freehold title (meaning it owned the land), including rights to minerals other than gold and silver (). The Government said this was ‘far wider mineral rights than are enjoyed by Aborigines in any other State’ ().
In Parliament, the opposition criticised the establishment of the Trust, and the transfer of reserves to it, as a ‘small’, ‘timid’ and ‘faltering’ step towards land rights. It noted that 'the trust is totally dependent upon the Minister's discretion in granting it lands and funds… At the very best, Aborigines may now have future land rights if the Government sees fit to grant them’ ().
By 1976, the Minister had transferred ownership of 61 reserves with 745 houses to the Trust (). By 1983, the Trust held title to 4,600 hectares of reserve land in NSW ().
Land title
The Trust could, amongst other things, sell or lease the land (, ).
In 1980, the First Report from the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly upon Aborigines (also known as the First Keane Report) referred to the Trust’s policy to offer 99-year leases to the local Aboriginal community instead of freehold title (noting that no leases had been finalised) (). The Committee found that leases were inadequate as ‘only freehold title provides the maximum security of estate acceptable to Aborigines’ ().
The Trust was exempt from paying water and sewerage local rates unless the land was held under a lease for private purposes or used by the Trust for a business (). This was to ensure the Trust didn’t ‘find itself saddled with a heavy burden for rates’ ().
Housing on reserves
In 1974, the Trust agreed to take over responsibility for managing housing on reserves, seeing this as an opportunity for the all-Aboriginal organisation to service the housing needs of Aboriginal people in NSW (, ).
The Trust inherited housing that was in very poor condition and, in many places, ‘unfit for human habitation’ (). There were also issues with access and waste disposal (see SUB0305 for more about housing on reserves).
The First Keane Report said:
The worst housing is to be found on former reserves. In almost every community your Committee visited, housing was of a very low standard, insanitary and inadequately maintained … Because Aboriginal people were encouraged to move away from their reserve communities it was considered unnecessary to improve facilities provided to those communities. Thus at the end of 1978 eight communities were without an electricity supply. This affected approximately 480 residents. In four communities there was no method of sewage disposal; in eighteen others there was no sewerage or septic system … This situation affected over two and a half thousand people’ ().
A Health Commission Report in 1976 found children on reserves had a high incidence of infectious disease due to contaminated water in some locations, lack of hot running water, lack of refrigeration and severe overcrowding ().
The poor condition of the housing made it very difficult for the Trust to apply a housing management policy and collect rent.
The NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs required all tenants of houses on the former reserves to pay rent. From 1980, the rent charged had to be the same as Housing Commission rent even though the houses were generally in worse condition than Housing Commission properties (). Further, unlike the Housing Commission’s ‘Housing for Aborigines’ properties (see SUB0427), maintenance costs had to be covered by rent collection – the Department did not fund any shortfall ‘in order to ensure adequate maintenance’ (). This Policy was enforced by the Department threatening to withhold funding from the Trust ().
The Second Keane Report commented that it was ‘ironic that for improved conditions in the future, Aboriginal tenants must pay increased rents now for sub-standard accommodation’ ().
Funding
The Trust’s landlord role demanded ‘the major part of the time and energies of members and staff’ (). Despite the Trust’s requests for more funding, the Trust did not receive enough funding to cover the extra responsibility it took on as landlord, or to maintain or improve housing on former reserves (, ). The First Keane Report noted that ‘The Trust has been forced by circumstances into the role of landlord’ and the Trust’s ability to improve housing was further impeded by its funding arrangements ().
The Trust received the bulk of its funding from the Commonwealth. Despite the Trust’s advocacy that it be recognised as a housing management body (), the Commonwealth considered it a landholding body and excluded the Trust from the negotiations for funding under the 1978 Commonwealth-State housing agreement ().
The Keane Report quoted a 1976 Health Commission Report which said:
The New South Wales Government which formed the Trust and defined its role contributes only to the cost of the Trust’s administration … the Commonwealth Government will not provide the Trust with adequate funding because it disagrees with the role of the Trust as defined by the New South Wales Government. In plain terms this means that Aboriginal children continue to suffer unacceptably high levels of ill-health because the New South Wales and Commonwealth Governments cannot agree as to the method of funding for urgent improvements in environmental conditions on Reserves ().
End of the Trust
In 1983, the Parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (), which ended the Trust and replaced it with a new land rights regime. The former reserves were transferred to the new Aboriginal Land Council network (see SUB0451).
Discussion and analysis documents provide further detail and commentary about the challenges the Trust faced and critiques of the Trust from the perspective of land rights and self-determination (, , , , , , ).