Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910

The Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 was an Act of the South Australian parliament (Act no. 1024/1910), assented to on 7 December 1910. The Act established the Northern Territory Aboriginals Department, to be responsible for the control and welfare of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, and created the office of Chief Protector of Aborigines. On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was transferred from South Australia to federal government control. The Act was repealed by the federal government's Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 on 13 June 1918, which nevertheless carried forward many of the provisions of the 1910 Act.

The Welfare Ordinance 1953 and Wards Employment Ordinance 1953 amended the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918, coming into force in 1957 and making all Aboriginal people in the Territory wards of the state, among other provisions. These were replaced with the Social Welfare Ordinance 1964, which removed many of the restrictions over the lives of Aboriginal people.

Description

The Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 was an Act of the South Australian parliament (Act no. 1024/1910), assented to on 7 December 1910.[1] On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was transferred from South Australia to federal government control.[2]

The Act established the Northern Territory Aboriginals Department and created the office of Chief Protector of Aborigines. The department was responsible for the control and welfare of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Under the Act, the Chief Protector of Aborigines was appointed the "legal guardian of every Aboriginal and every half-caste child up to the age of 18 years", and had the power to confine such children to an Aboriginal reserve or institution. The Act provided the legal basis for enforcing segregation. That is, Indigenous children could be removed by Administrative order, whereas non-Indigenous children at the time could only be removed by order of a Court.[3]

The Act allowed for regulations to be made for the "care, custody and education of the children of aboriginals". This included the power to transfer children to "aboriginal institutions" and "industrial schools". The Act was the first and only legislation passed in South Australia which related to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

Aboriginals Ordinance 1918

The Act was repealed by the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (Act No. 9/1918) on 13 June 1918, which combined and replaced the Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 and the Commonwealth Aboriginals Ordinance 1911. The 1918 Ordinance was amended 18 times over the following decades, and was repealed by the Welfare Ordinance 1953.[4]

Many of the provisions of the 1910 Act carried forward into the 1918 Ordinance, including the power to transfer Aboriginal children into institutions.

Under the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918, the Chief Protector was also given total control of all Indigenous women regardless of their age, unless married to a man who was "substantially of European origin", and his approval was required for any marriage of an Indigenous woman to a non-Indigenous man.[5]

Between 1918 and 1921, large areas of the Territory and adjacent states were classified as Aboriginal reserves and sanctuaries for remaining nomadic populations who had hitherto had little contact with white Australia. In 1920, the area including Uluru, in Anangu territory, was declared an Aboriginal Reserve under the Aboriginals Ordinance.

Welfare Ordinance 1953

From 1951, Paul Hasluck, the Commonwealth Minister for Territories, was responsible for drafting a new bill.[6] In 1953, the Welfare Ordinance 1953 amended the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (NT).[7] Its full title was "An Ordinance to amend the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918–1947". This Ordinance empowered the Director of Native Affairs (previously Chief Protector of Aborigines until changed by the Aboriginals Ordinance 1939) with legal guardianship of all "aboriginals", thus making them wards of the state. He would also oversee many matters relevant to the lives of Aboriginal people.[8] The 1953 Ordinance was different from its predecessors in that it did not once refer to any racial category, avoiding the term "Aborigines" altogether within its text. It has been seen as part of his model for cultural assimilation of Aboriginal people into the white population.[6] It was clear that the provisions applied to Aboriginal people though, by specifying that nobody who was entitled to vote could be declared a ward; at the time, this meant that it could only apply to Aboriginal people.[7]

At the same time, the Wards Employment Ordinance 1953 was enacted (though neither into operation until 1957).[9]

Two high-profile cases attracted widespread criticism of these ordinances. One was the a man called Mick Daly, charged with cohabiting with a ward, Gladys Namagu, when they wanted to marry. The other was the conviction of famous artist Albert Namatjira for supplying alcohol to a ward, as he had been (against his wishes) been given an honorary exemption from the Register of Wards. Namatjira appealed against the conviction to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory (with his defence supported by the Council for Aboriginal Rights in Victoria[10]). The Supreme Court upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence from six to three months. The High Court of Australia refused an application to appeal, and there was widespread sympathy for Namatjira and negative publicity about the operation of the Ordinance both at home and abroad.[9]

However the law was not properly debated in Parliament, and only finally lost its force after Aboriginal people gained franchise rights in both Commonwealth and Northern Territory in 1961. The Welfare Ordinance 1953 was replaced with the Social Welfare Ordinance 1964, which had much fewer restrictions over Aboriginal people.[9]

See also

References
  1. "The Northern Territory Aboriginals Act (No 1024 of 1910)". Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  2. Walker, David (1999). Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia, 1850–1939. University of Queensland Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0702231315.
  3. Chapter 13 Grounds for Reparation. Bringing them home. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. April 1997. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  4. "Aboriginals Ordinance No. 9 of 1918 (Cth)". Museum of Australian Democracy. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  5. "The History: Northern Territory" (PDF). Sydney, Australia: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. December 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008.
  6. McGregor, Russell (December 2005). "Avoiding "Aborigines": Paul Hasluck and the Northern Territory Welfare Ordinance, 1953 [Abstract]". Australian Journal of Politics and History. Wiley. 51 (4): 513–529. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8497.2005.00391.x. ISSN 0004-9522.
  7. "Appendix 7: Northern Territory". Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. April 1997. Retrieved 1 December 2020 – via Australian Human Rights Commission.
  8. "Aboriginals Ordinance 1953 (Legislation – Northern Territory)". Find & Connect. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2020. Note: Name of the Ordinance in this source appears to be incorrect as of 1 December 2020.
  9. Summers, John (31 October 2000). "The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia and Indigenous Peoples 1901–1967". Parliament of Australia. Research Paper 10 2000–01. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. Taffe, Sue (11 April 2014). "Essay – The Council for Aboriginal Rights (Victoria)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
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