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 report
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 -
Period: to
Protection
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 -
VIC - Legislation applying policy of protection
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Archibald Mestion commissioned to report on working conditions of missions & stations
"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' -
Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897
- 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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Exemption Certificates
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. -
Period: to
Segregation
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 -
Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association
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 -
1/3 of Indigenous people living on missions & settlements in QLD
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demands for increased Commonwealth involvement in Aboriginal affairs
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Commonwealth Government national conference on Aboriginal affairs
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 -
Period: to
Assimilation Policy
- 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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Aboriginal Preservation and Protection Act
- 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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Torres Straight Islanders Act
Replaced Act 1897 -
Limited formal powers, limited success
By the mid-ninteenth century the office of protector has for the most part either terminated or been vested ex officio in policemen -
'assimilation' became widely accepted goal for aboriginal people
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Access to social security benefits for Aboriginal people
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Native Welfare Conference of Federal & State Ministers
'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' -
Aboriginal people entitled to vote
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Wardship system in NT dismantled
Alcohol bans for Indigenous people was repealed & in most jurisdictions they were entitled to full award wages -
Freedom Rides
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 -
Aboriginal Tent Embassy
