Various policies and legislative controls have had devastating effects on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their communities.
Archives and publications (i.e. You can apply for any records relating to you held by the department, or those relating to a specific purpose such as evidence of genealogy, dates and place of birth or a specific ancestor.Level 2, State Library of WA, 25 Francis Street, Perth 6000The listings below give the names of many (but not all) of the church and government missions and reserves around Australia.To find records by yourself, you will need to know the name of the mission or reserve, and then find out the name of the government or church body that managed it.Here we have listed missions visited by anthropologist Norman Tindale in the 1930s – see The most thorough listing of Queensland missions is at the State Library of Queensland – see (Broome –previously St John of God Home for Native Girls)Kalumburu (East Kimberley – previously Drysdale River)AAEMB – Australian Aborigines Evangelical Mission BoardAIATSIS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, culture and community. If you know the name of the Aboriginal mission or church, try searching the catalogue. These reserves were controlled by the Local Protector of Aborigines. Records that remain are usually held by the church organisation which was responsible for the mission or sometimes in state archives. These units are mostly within state government departments of Aboriginal affairs or based within state archives and they specialise in locating personal records..Northern Territory Archives Centre, Kelsey Crescent, Millner NT 0810Northern Territory Archives Service, Mineral House, 58 Hartley Street, Alice Springs NT 0870Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne VIC 3051The Aboriginal History Research Unit manages access to Western Australian state archives and some privately owned records. John Oxley LibraryThe majority of Aboriginal reserves in Queensland were never "managed" reserves; that is no Superintendent was appointed. Some records have been deposited in state libraries, the National Library of Australia and in the AIATSIS collections. Native Affairs - Annual Report of the Director of Native Affairs for the year ended 30 June 1958, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Vol 2, 1958–59. 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This list includes locations which were home to many Aboriginal people but never formally gazetted as reserves. Churches also published magazines and newspapers that included information about missions and church institutions.Mission and reserve records are varied. In the mid 1800s, the British government, which still controlled the Australian colonies, became concerned that the expansion of pastoralism across the landscape was having too large an impact on Aboriginal people’s access to their Country. They might include diaries, daily occurrence books, photographs taken by visitors and resident missionaries, letters between church officials and people working on the church settlements, and registers of Aboriginal children and adults living there. After separation the administration of Indigenous affairs was transferred to the Colonial Secretary's Office for Queensland and from 1896 the Home Secretary's Office, whose correspondence (in the form of letters received) is a valuable source of information.Probably, one of the more infamous pieces of legislation introduced by the Queensland authorities was the The 1897 Act and the subsequent amending Acts of 1901, 1927, 1928 and 1934 gave the Chief Protector of Aboriginals, as well as the individual Protectors, enormous control over almost all aspects of the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland. Some missionaries recorded local languages and culture, and described daily life. Reserves and stations were generally run by the government, although churches, especially the United Aborigines Mission and the Aborigines Inland Mission, were sometimes active on … Most of mission/reserve histories will also list sources and locations of records.
This means that you might be able to read about the particular mission or reserve where your family lived.