The Act to Provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria (No. CCCXLIX (349)), also known as Aborigines Protection Act of 1869, became effective from 11 July 1870. It established the Board of Protection of Aborigines, a government agency that played a significant role in the lives and affairs of Indigenous people in Victoria.
Victoria was the first colony to pass comprehensive legislation about the ‘protection’ of its Indigenous people.
The Aboriginal Protection Act, ‘to provide for the protection and management of the Aboriginal natives of Victoria’ was passed on 11 November 1869. It gave the Board power to prescribe where Aboriginal people could live, the way they could earn a living, and the distribution of government funding and food and supplies.
Perhaps most significantly, the Act stated that the government, through the Board, had the power to make arrangements about the ‘care, custody and education’ of Aboriginal children.
Section 8 of the Act defined Aboriginality to include ‘half-castes’ and people ‘habitually associating and living with aboriginals’.
It was amended by Act No. 912 on 1 January 1887.
The Act was repealed by the Aborigines Act 1890 (Act No.1059) on 1 August 1890.
From
1870
To
1890
Alternative Names
Aboriginal Protection Act 1869
URL
Subsequent