Power and dysfunction : the New South Wales board for the protection of Aborigines 1883-1940 / Richard Egan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Egan, Richard (Historian), author.

Series:

Aboriginal history monograph series

Aboriginal History Monographs

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

New South Wales. Aborigines Protection Board--History.

New South Wales.

Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of--Australia--New South Wales--History.

Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of.

Aboriginal Australians--Government policy--Australia--New South Wales--History.

Aboriginal Australians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (370 pages) : illustrations (black and white), colour maps, portraits

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Power & dysfunction : the New South Wales board for the protection of Aborigines 1883-1940

Place of Publication:

Canberra ANU Press 2021

Canberra : ANU Press, [2021]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1883, the New South Wales Board for the Protection of Aborigines was tasked with assisting and supporting an Aboriginal population that had been devastated by a brutal dispossession. It began its tenure with little government direction - its initial approach was cautious and reactionary. However, by the turn of the century this Board, driven by some forceful individuals, was squarely focused on a legislative agenda that sought policies to control, segregate and expel Aboriginal people. Over time it acquired extraordinary powers to control Aboriginal movement, remove children from their communities and send them into domestic service, collect wages and hold them in trust, withhold rations, expel individuals from stations and reserves, authorise medical inspections, and prevent any Aboriginal person from leaving the state. Power and Dysfunction explores this Board and uncovers who were the major drivers of these policies, who were its most influential people, and how this body came to wield so much power. Paradoxically, despite its considerable influence, through its bravado, structural dysfunction, flawed policies and general indifference, it failed to manage core aspects of Aboriginal policy. In the 1930s, when the Board was finally challenged by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups seeking its abolition, it had become moribund, paranoid and secretive as it railed against all detractors. When it was finally disbanded in 1940, its 57-year legacy had touched every Aboriginal community in New South Wales with lasting consequences that still resonate today.

Contents:

Intro

List of figures

Figure 1.1: George Thornton.

Figure 1.2: Richard Hill.

Figure 2.1: Edmund Walcott Fosbery.

Figure 2.2: Philip Gidley King.

Figure 2.3: Attendance of the first 16 members of the Board up to 1897.

Figure 2.4: Number of years members spent on the Board.

Figure 2.5: William H. Suttor.

Figure 2.6: Robert Hoddle Driberg White.

Figure 2.7: Map of Dharawal Country and Environs.

Figure 2.8: Map of the Shoalhaven showing Aboriginal population centres.

Figure 2.9: 'The Courthouse' (Nowra 1910).

Figure 3.1: George Edward Ardill.

Figure 3.2: Our Boys Farm Home, Camden. Two Aboriginal boys can be seen, second from the far right and one in front of the matron.

Figure 3.3: Naval Training Ship Vernon.

Figure 3.4: The Christian Endeavour Mission Church.

Figure 3.5: Aboriginal population at La Perouse, 1885-1900.

Figure 3.6: John Stuart Hawthorn.

Figure 3.7: Lady Timbery, Queen of La Perouse.

Figure 3.8: John See.

Figure 4.1: Robert T. Donaldson.

Figure 4.2: Edward Dowling.

Figure 4.3: Thomas Garvin.

Figure 4.4: Board member attendance by percentage during the lead-up to the Aborigines Protection Act 1909.

Figure 4.5: Robert Scobie.

Figure 5.1: Edward Burns Harkness.

Figure 5.2: Number of Board meetings held each year by the 'new' Board from 1916 to 1939.

Figure 6.1: Map of New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council boundaries.

Figure 6.2: Numbers and regions from where Aboriginal girls were removed and subsequently placed in apprenticeships (1916-28). Total: 456.

Figure 6.3: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the North Western region (1916-28). Total: 133.

Figure 6.4: Numbers and regions from where Aboriginal boys were removed and subsequently placed into apprenticeships (1916-28). Total: 159.

Figure 6.5: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the North Western region (1916-28). Total: 84.

Figure 6.6: Mean total Aboriginal populations at major Aboriginal concentration centres from 1911 to 1915. Numbers of children are included in the total population columns and are also represented separately.

Figure 6.7: Numbers of 'full-blood' and 'half-caste' children at location points between 1911 and 1912 from where 10 or more girls were subsequently removed.

Figure 6.8: Location points in Sydney for the placement of Aboriginal girls who had been removed from their communities.

Figure 6.9: Location points in rural New South Wales for the placement Aboriginal girls who had been removed from their communities.

Figure 6.10: The top 30 location points across New South Wales for the placement of Aboriginal girls removed from their communities.

Figure 6.11: Location points across New South Wales for the placement of Aboriginal boys.

Figure 6.12: The top 30 location points across New South Wales for the placement of Aboriginal boys removed from their communities.

Figure 6.13: Numbers of children removed from Dharawal population centres (1916-28).

Figure 6.14: Domestic placement history of one Dharawal apprentice.

Figure 7.1: The manager's house at Roseby Park Aboriginal Station.

Figure 7.2: View from Greenwell Point across to Orient Point (Roseby Park)

this was the punt journey for young Barbara Timbery to attend school.

Figure 7.3: Internal note from Minister for Education, John Perry, 6 March 1902.

Figure 7.4: Aboriginal schools established between 1883 and 1915.

Figure 7.5: Map of the Shoalhaven.

Figure 7.6: Peter Board.

Figure 8.1: B.C. Harkness.

Figure 8.2: William John MacKay.

Figure 8.3: Mark Davidson.

Figure 8.4: George Edward Ardill.

Figure 8.5: The Day of Mourning.

Figure 8.6: Day of Mourning.

Figure A1.1: George Thornton.

Figure A1.2: Richard Hill.

Figure A1.3: Philip Gidley King.

Figure A1.4: William J. Foster.

Figure A1.5: Edmund Walcott Fosbery.

Figure A1.6: Harman John Tarrant.

Figure A1.7: William H. Suttor.

Figure A1.8: Robert Hoddle Driberg White.

Figure A1.9: John See.

Figure A1.10: George Edward Ardill.

Figure A1.11: Edward Dowling.

Figure A1.12: Robert Scobie.

Figure A1.13: Thomas Garvin.

Figure A1.14: Robert Thomas Donaldson.

Figure A1.15: Peter Board.

Figure A1.16: Robert T. Paton.

Figure A1.17: George Stuart Briner.

Figure A1.18: Edward Burns Harkness.

Figure A1.19: Brian James Doe.

Figure A1.20: Roy S. Vincent.

Figure A1.21: George R. Thomas.

Figure A1.22: Bertie Clarence Harkness.

Figure A1.23: William John MacKay.

Figure A1.24: George Edward Ardill.

Figure A2.1: Board member attendance from 1883 to 1916.

Figure A3.1: Board member attendance from 1916 to 1939.

Figure A4.1: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from institutions and interstate who were placed in apprenticeships (1916-28). Total: 45.

Figure A4.2: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the Wiradjuri region (1916-28). Total: 69.

Figure A4.3: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the Northern region (1916-28). Total: 66.

Figure A4.4: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the Mid-North Coast region (1916-28). Total: 57.

Figure A4.5: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the North Coast region (1916-28). Total: 49.

Figure A4.6: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the South Coast region (1916-28). Total: 39.

Figure A4.7: Number of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the Central region (1916-28). Total: 22.

Figure A4.8: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from locations within the Sydney/Newcastle region (1916-28). Total: 11.

Figure A4.9: Numbers of Aboriginal girls removed from two locations in the Western region (1916-28). Total: 3.

Figure A4.10: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from institutions who were placed in apprenticeships (1916-28). Total: 15.

Figure A4.11: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the Wiradjuri region (1916-28). Total: 13.

Figure A4.12: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the Northern region (1916-28). Total: 9.

Figure A4.13: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the Mid-North Coast region (1916-28). Total: 11.

Figure A4.14: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the North Coast region (1916-28). Total: 13.

Figure A4.15: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the South Coast region (1916-28). Total: 5.

Figure A4.16: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the Central region (1916-28). Total: 9.

Figure A4.17: Numbers of Aboriginal boys removed from locations within the Sydney/Newcastle region (1916-28). Total: 8.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Terminology

Introduction

1. A faltering start to 'protection', 1883

2. Policy drift, 1883-1897

3. The zealot from Parramatta

4. The 'almost white' children, 1904-1910

5. Enter the bureaucrats, 1916

6. The girls return

7. If the 'white parents object'

8. Winds of change

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Board members in order of appearance

Appendix 2: Member attendance for all Board members from 1883 until 1916

Appendix 3: Member attendance for all Board members from 1916 until 1939

Appendix 4: Statistics of removals (see Chapter 6)

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 cc https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Other Format:

Print version:

OCLC:

1273742980