Apprenticeships and service under the Aborigines Protection Act 1909-1969
Laws and policies specifically forced Aboriginal children into apprenticeships and domestic servitude.
Prior to 1915, the Aborigines Protection Board (APB) had to ask the State Children's Relief Department (SCRD) to remove children, in order to place them in apprenticeships. There was also no formal system of apprenticeships specifically for Aboriginal children. While the SCRD did use apprenticeships for non-Aboriginal children, it preferred to board them out.
The APB sought broader powers and to be able to place children in apprenticeships without the consent of the parents or the Children’s Court.
In 1915, the Aborigines Amending Act 1915 (NSW) () allowed the APB to administer an apprenticeship scheme for Aboriginal children. The system focussed on apprenticing girls in domestic service on stations ().
Between 1915 and 1939, the APB removed a significant number of girls from their families and placed them into apprenticeships. The APB sent ‘lighter-skinned’ Aboriginal children to the SCRD until they reached the age of 14, at which time they were returned to the APB and sent to an apprenticeship. The remaining Aboriginal children were placed in institutions managed by the APB until they were old enough for apprenticeships. This contrasted with the system for non-Aboriginal children, which was heavily focused on boarding-out ().
In 1940 the APB was replaced with the Aborigines Welfare Board (AWB) (). To remove an Aboriginal child, the AWB had to follow the process under the Child Welfare Act 1939 (NSW) () which also applied to non-Aboriginal children at the time.
The Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1943 (NSW) () also permitted the AWB to order any child within their care to an apprenticeship or employment once they reached school leaving age. Children were still placed in domestic apprenticeships up until the introduction of the Aborigines Act 1969 (NSW) (), which repealed the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) () and dissolved the AWB.
The documents in this subject demonstrate that Aboriginal girls within domestic service apprenticeships experienced extremely high rates of sexual abuse as well as increased rates of pregnancy. The APB actively encouraged the girls to marry non-Aboriginal men when they completed their apprenticeship, rather than return to their communities.