The ''Aboriginal Protection Act 1869'' was an Act of the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

of Victoria, Australia that established the Victorian

Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines Aboriginal Protection Board, also known as Aborigines Protection Board, Board for the Protection of Aborigines, Aborigines Welfare Board (and in later sources, incorrectly as Aboriginal Welfare Board), and similar names, refers to a number of hi ...

, to replace the Central Board Appointed to Watch Over the Interests of the Aborigines. The Act made Victoria the first

to enact comprehensive regulations on the lives of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

. The Act and subsequent regulations gave the Board extensive powers over the lives of Aboriginal Victorians, including regulation of residence, employment, marriage, social life, custody of children and other aspects of daily life.

History

In 1860 the Victorian government established a Central Board for the Aborigines and six

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

s under the control of managers appointed by the board. By 1869 a quarter of Aboriginal Victorians lived on reserves. Victoria enacted the ''Aboriginal Protection Act 1869'' providing addition powers to compel Aboriginal Victorians to live on reserves. In 1871 the Board developed further controls over where Aboriginal people could live and work, what they could do, who they could meet or marry. However, by 1877 fewer than half of Aboriginal Victorians lived on reserves. In 1886, Victoria's parliament passed what became known as the Half-Caste Act, giving the board power to expel Aboriginal Victorians of mixed heritage ("half-castes") aged from eight to 34 from reserves. According to Broome: "In one move, the Board's costs would be reduced and the Aboriginal race would vanish as the 'full bloods' aged and died, and the 'half castes' were blended to whiteness." The policy was implemented on the eve of the 1890s depression leading to hardship for many of those expelled from reserves. The policy was reversed by Victoria's '' Aborigines Act 1910,'' although extensive controls over the lives of Aboriginal Victorians continued.

History

See also

References

Further reading