Aboriginal Life 1901 To 1914

As the interior was explored and mapped, squatters and free settlers followed and Aboriginal people were pushed from their homelands. Governments... more

by Miroslava Jurcik

Title

Aboriginal Life 1901 To 1914

Artist

Miroslava Jurcik

Medium

Photograph

Description

As the interior was explored and mapped, squatters and free settlers followed and Aboriginal people were pushed from their homelands. Governments wanted to protect Aboriginal people from settler violence. By the 1880s, many Australians believed that Aboriginal people were dying out. In 1788, there had been over 300,000 Aboriginal people in mainland Australia, but by 1888 there were an estimated 80,000. Aboriginal people also died bec of contracting illnesses which there were not immune to !! Colonial Governments’ believed that the best way to help Aboriginal people was by a policy of Protection. This policy lasted from the 1880s to the 1930s. Aboriginal people were encouraged to live on government reserves and church missions far away from other Australians. They were given food, clothes, blankets and sometimes basic education. Squatters and settlers often used Aboriginal people from the reserves as cheap labour or, in some cases, as slaves which was illigal.
Timeline:
1901: Australia becomes a nation. Aboriginal people are excluded from the vote, pensions, employment in post offices, enlistment in armed forces and maternity allowance.
1902: During the Boer War about 4 or 50 Aboriginal trackers are summonsed by the British forces in South Africa to join the war to locate Boer fighters. When Australian forces withdraw later that year, the trackers are thought to have been left behind. (more research needed) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-30/calls-to-identify-and-honour-aboriginal-soldiers/5489648
1903: Tasmanian Aboriginal woman Fanny Cochrane Smith is recorded singing in her native tongue, the first and only recording of Tasmania’s Aboriginal language.
1904 : The Queensland government establishes Cherbourg, an Aboriginal community, about 30 km from Gympie.
Torres Strait Islanders become subject to the Queensland Aboriginal Protection Act.
1905 : The Western Australia Aborigines Act is passed, making the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 16 years old. Reserves are established, a local protector is appointed and rules governing Aboriginal employment are laid down.
1909: The NSW Aborigines Protection Act is introduced following crises in public schools.
Aboriginal schools are established in NSW. Exclusion of Aboriginal children from public schools followed requests by the white community. In NSW there are 22 Aboriginal schools in 1910, 35 in 1920 and 40 in 1940. The syllabus stresses manual activities and the teacher is usually the reserve manager’s untrained wife.
The Act also made it illegal for ‘half-castes’ to live on reserves. In 1915 and 1918 amendments to the Act give the NSW Aborigines Protection Board greater powers to remove children from their families for training as domestic servants.
First Aboriginal person to play First Grade Rugby League was George Green playing for Eastern Suburbs.
1910: The Victorian Aborigines Act permitted the Board for Protection of Aborigines to help ‘half-castes’ by licensing needy persons to live on stations.
An inquiry is held into the Forest River Massacre in the Kimberley.
The Aborigines Protection Board Act is passed, giving the Board ‘legal’ control over Aboriginal people on stations and reserves but not missions, in the Northern Territory.
1911: The South Australian Aborigines Act makes the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 21 years old. The Chief Protector also has control of where the child lives. The Chief Protector is replaced by the Aborigines Protection Board in 1939 and guardianship power is repealed in 1962.
Federal government passes the Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance. The Chief Protector is made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 18 years old. Any Aboriginal person can be forced onto a mission or settlement and children can be removed by force.
1912: Maternity allowance is introduced but does not include Aboriginal people.
7 May: Roper River Aboriginal man Aya-I-Ga, known as Neighbour, is awarded the prestigious Albert Medal by King George V after he saved Constable W F Johns from drowning. It is the first time that a gallantry medal is awarded to an Aboriginal Australian.

The photo of the poster of the old photograph was on display at the Spirit of Anzac exhibition in Sydney 2017.

History Source: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/aboriginal-history-timeline-1900-1969#ixzz4ogtsfsHp

Uploaded

August 3rd, 2017