The Aborigines Welfare Directorate replaced the Aborigines Welfare Board in 1969. It later became known as the Aborigines Services Branch, Youth and Community Services.
Warangesda Dormitory was established on an Aborigines Protection Association station at Warangesda, near Darlington Point, in 1893. It trained Aboriginal girls for domestic service and served as a welfare depot for younger children from other reserves and stations. In 1897 the Aborigines Protection Board took over managing Warangesda Mission and the Dormitory. Girls from Warangesda…
The Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1918 extended the reach of the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 to include, specifically, ‘any person having apparently an admixture of Aboriginal blood’. This, in effect, meant that any police officer or employee of the Aborigines Protection Board could decide whether someone was Aboriginal by looking at them. It swept more…
The Community Welfare Act 1982 (76/1982) was an Act that modernised and consolidated the Child Welfare Act 1939 and other Acts that related to children. The Act stated that the welfare and interests of children were to be given ‘paramount consideration’, that children should be , and that there should be ‘no interruption of parental…
The Orphan School Estates Act 1826, also known as An Act for Vesting the Orphan School Estates in the Trustees of the Clergy and School Lands in the Colony of New South Wales and for duly governing the Children at School and in Apprenticeship (7 George 4, Act No 4, 1826), established rules for the…
The Children’s Protection Act 1902 (47/1902) was also known as ‘An Act to consolidate the enactments providing for the protection of children in certain cases’ and repealed the Children’s Protection Act 1892. It amended and consolidated the law regarding ‘baby-farming’, or caring for multiple infants for a fee. This practice was of great social and…
The Community Welfare Act 1987 (52/1987) was a significant revision of existing child welfare legislation and the Community Welfare Act 1982. It followed a number of Reports and Inquiries around Australia and the world. It is the Act that controls the functions of the Minister for community welfare and social development and some of the…
Requiring the consent of a child to the making of a community service order or restricting orders to children under fourteen.
Enables the Director-General to place children in foster care and requires children to be informed of reasons for removal and likely consequences.
The Aborigines Act 1969 (37/1969) was ‘An Act to make provisions with respect to matters concerning Aborigines; to repeal the Aborigines Protection Act, 1909, and certain other Acts; to amend the Attachment of Wages Limitation Act, 1957.’ It was a landmark Act that abolished the Aborigines Welfare Board and moved all Aboriginal children into the…