Timeline of Government Policies/Responses to Australian Indigenous Cultures and Indigenous Responses to these Policies
By sienna22s2
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House of Commons Select Committee on Aboriginies recommended there should be missionaries for Aboriginal people; protectors for their defence & special codes of laws to protect them. Protectors mostly appointed in NWS, SA, WA -
Reduction of Aboriginal population & a growing awareness of their general mistreatment, led to the idea of 'protection' for Aboriginal people. 1953 isn't the end but latest law thing listed
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"Kidnapping of boys & girls is another serious evil..Boys and girls are frequently taken from their parents & their tribes, and removed far off whence they have no chance of returning; left helpless at the mercy of those who possessed them, white people responsible to no one and under no supervision by any proper authority..Stringent legislation is required to prevent a continuance of abuses concerning the women and children"
Urged 'principle of isolation on reserves, & total exclusion of yts' -
- government officials under the Chief protector & the Director of Native Affairs (after 1939) to 'remove' Indigenous people to & btwn reserves & to seperate children, only requiring an administrative decision from the Minister
- 'orphaned', 'deserted' or 'half caste' children could be removed to an orphanage
- Amended 1934
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Any Aboriginal people who had successfully assimilated- abandoning their own culture(s) & adopting the dominant culture/ somehow deemed 'worthy', would be awarded with an exemption certificate, where they would gain rights they didn't have. It was called the 'Dog Licence' by Aboriginal people. Some used exemption certificates to survive, obeyed the laws due to fear, thought of it as a way to achieve civil rights, while others didn't see giving up their culture as a worthy trade. -
Indigenous people, including children, were to be isolated on missions & government settlements well away from non-Indigenous society.
Children of mixed descent were targeted for removal from their communities -
first politically organised, united Aboriginal activist group. focused on:
- stopping the removal of Aboriginal children
- gaining equal citizenship
- protecting Aboriginal cultural identity
- ensuring Indigenous communities & families could provide for themselves & their future through land ownership -
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agreed that Aboriginal people 'not of full blood' should be 'assimilated' into the wider population, the aim was to make the 'Aboriginal problem' gradually disappear
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- Aboriginal people 'not of full blood' should be 'assimilated' into the wider population
- policies which impacted harshly on Indigenous people included; seperate education for Aboriginal children, town curfews, alcohol bans, no social security, lower wages, State guardianship of all Aboriginal children, & laws segregating Indigenous people mainly on reserves (some of these policies also fall under the umbrella of protection)
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- Replaced Act 1897
- the Director of native Affairs was made the guardian of all Indigenous children under 21- with the power of removal
- definition of 'half-blood' narrowed, leaving less people within the Director's control, although his power expanded over who he did control
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Replaced Act 1897
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By the mid-ninteenth century the office of protector has for the most part either terminated or been vested ex officio in policemen
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'The policy of assimilation means that all Aboriginies and part-Aboriginies are expected to attain the same manner of living as other Australians and to live as members of a single Australian community, enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the same customs and influenced by the same beliefs as other Australians'
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Alcohol bans for Indigenous people was repealed & in most jurisdictions they were entitled to full award wages
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in response to the horrible living conditions & racism Aboriginal people had been experiencing in rural NSW towns. It earned national & international media attention, influencing the 1967 Referendum -
