Aboriginal Protection Boards

Aboriginal Protection Boards were federal agencies in the states of Australia. They administered the affairs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and were responsible for the Stolen Generations, a series of forced removals of indigenous children from their families in an attempt to biologically absorb them into white society.

History

Prior to the establishment of Aboriginal Protection Boards, various Chief Protectors of Aborigines were assigned to control the affairs of aboriginal people, starting in 1836 in South Australia. Reserves were also established to confine aboriginal people and to prevent more genocidal massacres on aboriginal people. In addition, the Chief Protectors would also keep the wages earned by aboriginal workers.

Under various acts, the Chief Protectors were declared the legal guardians of aboriginal children within each state and territory and employed blood quantum laws to dictate the lives of aboriginal people, based on ancestry. This would lead to the forced removals of half-blooded children from their families in an attempt to "breed the color" out of them, in what is known as the Stolen Generations.

Over the years, while aboriginal people would be granted certain rights in each state and territory, the boards were abolished and replaced by various organizations with the goals to improve better conditions for indigenous people.