The Aborigines Protection Board was established to manage reserves and the welfare of the estimated 9000 Aboriginal people living in New South Wales in the 1880s. It was part of the Department of Police and was chaired by the Commissioner of Police. It met weekly in Phillip Street in Sydney. Board members, including George Edward Ardill of the Sydney Rescue Work Society, developed legislation in the period 1909 to 1935 that restricted the capacity of Aboriginal people to choose where they lived, enjoy education at the same standard offered to the rest of the community, set their own employment contracts, drink alcohol or receive family endowment in cash. After considerable controversy, the Aborigines Protection Board was replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board in 1940.
From
1883
To
1940
Alternative Names
Protection Board
Board for the Protection of Aborigines
Subsequent
