The Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 (SA) (Act no. 1024/1910) was assented to on 7 December 1919. The Act was repealed by Aboriginals Ordinance 1910 (Act No. 9/1918) on 13 June 1918. The Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 established the Northern Territory Aboriginals Department. This department was responsible for the control and welfare of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Under the Act, the Chief Protector was made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal child. 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'. This Act was the first and only legislation passed in South Australia which related to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.
1910 - 1918 Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910
1918 - 1953 Aboriginals Ordinance 1918
1957 - 1964 Welfare Ordinance 1953
1964 - 1984 Social Welfare Ordinance 1964
1984 - 2008 Community Welfare Act 1983
2008 - Care and Protection of Children Act 2007
Sources used to compile this entry: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, Commonwealth of Australia, 1997, https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/pdf/social_justice/bringing_them_home_report.pdf; Katherine Ellinghaus, Absorbing the 'Aboriginal problem': controlling interracial marriage in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Aboriginal History, vol. 27, 2003, 183-207 pp, http://press.anu.edu.au/node/1061/download; Law Research Service, Melbourne Law School, Law Library, The University of Melbourne. 'Find and Connect Project - Northern Territory Legislation', 1 February 2013, held in the project files at the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre.
Prepared by: Karen George and Gary George
Created: 30 January 2012, Last modified: 15 April 2015